Russian Student's Challenge To Teaching of Evolution Dismissed

In Russia on Wednesday, the Admiralty District Court in St. Petersburg dismissed a suit that had been brought by Maria Shreiber, a 16-year old student, who claimed that her rights were violated and her religious beliefs were insulted by her school's teaching of the theory of evolution. She wanted her school to offer alternatives to the treatment of evolution set out in her 10th-grade biology textbook. Wednesday's International Herald Tribune reported that Schreiber has now dropped out of school after receiving low grades that her father attributed to teachers who were prejudiced against Maria. Schreiber's father, Kirill Schreiber, told the press, "Our task remains the same: to dethrone Darwin's theory." (See prior posting.)