This is a lovely idea—I would cheerfully endorse including this kind of course in a high school curriculum, and think kids would learn some valuable ideas from it.

When some residents in Columbus petitioned the School Board three years ago to give the Bible's creation account equal time with evolution, school officials came up with a novel response.

They created a new class -- under the heading of social studies -- that examines all the theories on human origins. Not only did the class cover evolution and creationism, it also surveyed Navajo beliefs, the Hindu creation story and a host of other perspectives.

Greg Lewis, the social studies chairman at Columbus East High School, figured a skeptical public would put his Human Origins class under the microscope. "Teaching the course was like walking a tightrope," he said.

In the end, the dissection Lewis expected never came. The course's treatment of the issues seemed to soothe the population to the point that, after two semesters, so few kids were interested in the subject there weren't enough to fill a course section.

Alas, as you can see from that last paragraph, that is the reaction we could have expected. The creationists are not sincere about wanting their kids exposed to a diversity of alternative ideas…they just want their myths promoted, and they all fade away otherwise. I imagine the science-minded kids were also unenthusiastic about the course, since it wasn't going to give them the hard information they needed.

And now, of course, the bigots and uneducated zealots want to bring Intelligent Design creationism into Indiana science classes.

…a fledgling advocacy group is threatening to sue Hamilton Southeastern Schools if the district fails to give a "balanced and nonpartisan" view of the origins of life -- in other words, to let Darwin's critics get equal time.

The group -- headed by Delaware County resident Alex P. Oren -- has a stated mission to stop "the influence of atheism and immorality" in public schools. While his faith motivates his effort, Oren insists he isn't seeking equal time for God, just the arguments against evolution.

"This is not science versus religion," he said. "This is science versus science.

Wrong. There is no science behind Intelligent Design creationism—it's all a ploy to sow FUD and get an established science out of the classroom. Oren's conflation of "atheism and immorality" as what he is fighting blows his case out of the water right there; he's another fundamentalist using the ID smokescreen.

This newspaper article started off well, but after Oren makes his absurd claim, the journalist seems to have gone out to lunch and resorted to the usual dueling quotes—I don't get the impression he's in favor of ID being taught, but he makes a limp case. All he has in response is Glenn Branch of the NCSE (good) followed by Dembski and the Answers in Genesis museum (appalling). May I make a suggestion, reporters? When someone claims X is science, call up your local university and ask a scientist in the relevant field if it is. Ask two or three scientists if you want multiple opinions. But don't waste your time asking your garbageman, that homeless guy on the sidewalk, or a theologian, and don't report their opinions as if they have equal weight with the informed ideas of qualified scientists, OK? The last third of this article should have said, "Scientists don't agree with him. Some non-scientists with religious opinions on the matter claim X is a science." Spell it out!

On the other hand, it is good to see Dembski and ID tied to this kind of sentiment again:

Here in Indiana, Oren freely acknowledges that his challenge to Hamilton Southeastern is motivated by his belief in the biblical account of creation. And for him, the stakes in the fight for public schools couldn't be higher.

"For many kids, this is where it begins," he said. "The choice between God or no God often comes right here."