ANDERSON TWP. — Although the Forest Hills Board of Education declined to include an “intelligent design” textbook in the science curriculum, parents promoting the idea will launch a free education course beginning Sunday to explain it to the public.

        The course will be at 6:30 p.m. the next four Sundays at Mount Washington Church of Christ, 6986 Salem Road, for parents and students in grades 7 to 12.

        Intelligent design suggests that there is scientific evidence that living organisms are so advanced that the complexity cannot be explained by random chance and naturally occurring mechanisms. Critics call it a back-door approach to slipping creationism into schools.
       

Evolution "shortcomings'
        When school board members considered adopting new science textbooks Monday, a group of parents and former students asked them to include a supplemental text that focuses on intelligent design, Of Pandas and People. The board approved new Prentice Hall textbooks that teach evolution, but did not include the alternative book.

        Joel Roadruck of Anderson Township, spokesman for the group, was encouraged when Superintendent John Patzwald said approving the new textbooks did not preclude the use of supplemental materials or openness of discussion in classes.

        “We figure we're pretty far away from ever getting the current educational establishment to allow this book to be in schools, but if people want to buy the book, there's no law that would prohibit a child or a student from having their own book and their own source of information,” Mr. Roadruck said.

        “My whole goal is not to polarize the community in this area ... I think more and more people just need to find out about these alternative ideas, and they need to know the shortcomings that evolution has.”
       

"Science' vs. "philosophy'
        Barry Riehle, Turpin High School science department chairman, who helped select new science books, told the board Monday there should be no confusion between evolution and intelligent design.

        “One is a theory of science, and the other is a philosophy,” he said.

        While he follows the textbook, he said, that doesn't prevent students from engaging in lively discussions about the origin of life.

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