Indiana Senate Passes Creationism Bill Which Is Criticized By Intelligent Design Advocates

Yesterday, the Indiana state Senate passed SB 89 (full text) by a vote of 28-22.  The bill allows public schools to:

offer instruction on various theories of the origin of life. The curriculum for the course must include theories from multiple religions, which may include, but is not limited to, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Scientology.

Interestingly, the Discovery Institute, the leading center promoting the theory of intelligent design, issued a press release criticizing the Indiana Senate's passage of the bill. Attempting to distinguish intelligent design from creationism, the Institute said in part: "There are plenty of scientific criticisms of Darwin’s theory today, and science students should be able to hear about them, not about religion.”