Teaching Evolution Challenged In Russian Court

Maria Shreiber, a 15-year old student in St. Petersburg, Russia, has sued the city's education committee claiming that the treatment of evolution in the 10th-grade biology textbook used at the Cervantes Gymnasium is offensive to believers. The suit says that the book refers negatively to religion and the existence of God. At a court hearing on Monday, the girl's father argued that the biology textbook should be revised to reflect alternatives to evolution. An Associated Press report on the case says this is the first lawsuit of its kind in Russia.