Mich. controversy on 'intelligent design'

ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 22 (UPI) -- A conservative Christian law firm has asked that two Michigan teachers be allowed to teach intelligent design alongside evolution in their science classes.

The Thomas More Law Center of Ann Arbor said it sent a letter to the Gull Lake Community School District's school board on behalf of two science teachers, Dawn Wendzel and Julie Olson, who had been barred by the district superintendent from teaching intelligent design alongside the theory of evolution in their seventh grade classes.

The letter written by Richard Thompson, the center's chief counsel, also protested the confiscation of 30 copies of the book "Of Pandas and People" the teachers had been using in teaching ID.

The center said future legal proceedings were possible and requested a response to the April 14 letter within 14 days.

ID asserts that intelligent causes are necessary to explain the complex structures of biology and that these causes are empirically detectable. This theory is generally dismissed by mainstream scientists. In 2002, the American Association for the Advancement of Science adopted a resolution saying "the lack of scientific warrant for so-called 'intelligent design theory' makes it improper to include as a part of science education."

Ed Brayton of the Michigan Citizens for Science, which opposes teaching ID and has worked to resolve the dispute for several months, said at one point a committee formed by the school -- which included the two teachers -- voted 5-2 that ID should not be taught.