What shall we tell the children about evolution?

An article in 'Christianity Today' http://www.christiantoday.com/article/evangelical.school.gets.the.go.ahead.in.nottingham/28446.htm invites us to get excited about creeping creationism: an Academy is planning as part of its Christian ethos to commend Creationism. However, the school's version of what's happening is different: http://www.eccnewark.org.uk/ It suggests that, if this was the plan, the school's managers have had a rethink. Actually the school concerned - 'Everyday Champions Academy'- appears to be under siege by parents, government inspectors, and Humanist lobbyists before it's even opened its doors, which is a pity.

But as the initial article got me excited, I'll share my opinion on the wider issues anyway. A good book to read on this is Denis Alexander's 'Creation or Evolution' - and not just because I knew him at University. He is at pains to point out, alongside his own convictions as a Christian and a scientist, that there are a number of different points of view on Evolution and on the Bible's account of creation, and how they might relate to each other.

There is, at the very least, a distinction between 'Creationsim' and 'Intelligent Design'. Basically Creationism appears to many so absurd that it is difficult to take it seriously. A few years ago some maths materials appeared which included a reference to the creation '6000 years ago' - a young earth indeed! Having said that, I have tried to point out, to a Christian who has a further degree in mathematics, the mismatch with History, Geology and Astronomy this produces - but to no avail. The arguments for Intelligent Design are more subtle: they appear absurd to most scientists, but not necessarily to the rest of us. My own rejection of it is not based on the scientific arguments - whose details I don't understand - but on the fact that most scientists reject it.

Personally, I was converted to 'Evolution' (from a previous position of not-having-thought-about-it-much) when at about the age of 10 my mum took me to the Natural History Museum. However, the pamphlet I came away with puzzled me, specifically its maps, which showed the continents in different geological eras, including, for example, an unbelievably vast Gondwanaland that included the South Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, as well as the continents of South America and Africa. Some years later 'the theory' of continental drift mysteriously became 'scientific fact', and I realised that the map was wrong, and that the areas marked as 'Land in Cambrian, but now Sea' were never land.

How should Evolution and Creationism be presented to children and young people in schools. The resignation of Michael Reiss 3 years ago - http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/sep/17/evolution.controversiesinscience

- shows how fraught this discussion has become. But the idea that young people should be excluded from this debate strikes me as dangerous. Better to give give Creationism and I.D. a mention at some point in the curriculum, and allow young people a chance to discuss them.