A Washakie County school board member wants to authorize the teaching of "intelligent design" theory in district science classrooms as an alternative to Darwin's theory of evolution.

Intelligent design theory proposes that nature is too complex to have been shaped by evolutionary forces and that some power or force is responsible for life as it is known today, according to district trustee Tom Ball.

But Casper College instructor Will Robinson contends that "intelligent design theory" is simply a cover for creationism.

"We have to be careful about keeping science classes about science and not religion," said Robinson. "The teaching of religion has its place, and I don't think that the science classroom is that place."

The Washakie County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees passed a policy on first reading last month that reads: "It shall be the policy of the Washakie County School District No. 1 when teaching Darwin's theory of evolution that it is only a theory and not a fact. Teachers shall be allowed in a neutral and objective manner to introduce all scientific theories of origin, and the students may be allowed to discuss all aspects of the controversy surrounding the lack of scientific evidence in support of the theory of evolution."

Responding to various newspaper accounts of the policy, Mike Hejtmanek, the district's superintendent of schools, said Washakie County schools are not teaching creationism, despite reports to the contrary.

"We're not teaching creationism. The board did not say that we will teach creationism," Hejtmanek said Friday. "That word isn't even in the policy. Teachers will be allowed to teach all theories of how life began on Earth, including evolution, the Big Bang and intelligent design."

Intelligent design is the theory that life on Earth and the systems that support life are so irreducibly complex that they must have been designed by some force. Scientists go to great lengths not to define what that force or higher power could be, but the theory is used by some religious groups to provide a scientific basis for their beliefs in creation.

"Our most complicated computer systems and programs show intelligent design," said Tom Ball, a Worland wildlife biologist and the school board member who proposed the policy. "I'm not using the word creation. Everything we are proposing is legal. What some people in academia are coming out with is they see this great diversity in nature that evolution can't even begin to explain."

Ball contends that the theory of intelligent design has no basis in religion and that there are top scientists across the globe that subscribe to it.

"It's just a metaphor for creationism," replies Kitsy Barnes, the head of Worland High School's science department. "When you bring in the question of a higher power in charge, you bring in faith-based questions that are based on the supernatural."

Science, both Robinson and Barnes said, is established around provable facts that can be observed and recorded. While both said they do not discount religion and its truth, the non-provable nature of faith does not fit in a basic scientific model.

"I'm not saying that science and religion are mutually exclusive," Barnes said. "But I think that each has its own place and its own institutions to teach both."

The policy is useless, according to Barnes, because it describes the curriculum as it is already being taught.

"It says that we need to present Darwin's theory of evolution as a theory and not as fact," she said. "We already do that. We explain that this is a theory and nothing is absolute in the world of science."

The problem Ball has with the current curriculum is that while it may teach evolution as a theory, it offers no counter explanations and therefore portrays it as fact.

"There are other people coming out … and asking these questions," Ball said. "Because of those voices, what does it hurt to put those voices on the other side of the ledger and say let's talk about this?"

It is the way the policy uses the word "theory" that can be misleading as to the proof of evolution's validity, Robinson said.

"You have to be careful when you use the word 'theory,'" Robinson said. "In science, everything is a theory. But when you use it in layman's terms, it becomes something that isn't true. This theory is almost 200 years old and has a great deal of evidence supporting it."

Discussing creationism in public schools is allowed under federal law if students bring the topic up in class, according to National School Board Association guidelines for public schools dealing with religion. The Cody school board recently adopted the guidelines to "better inform teachers on the legality of religion and how to comply with the separation between church and state," said Bryan Monteith, that district's superintendent of schools.

"We adopted these guidelines in response to a complaint we had about calling our winter concert a "Christmas concert," Monteith said last week. "It is allowed to discuss creationism in school as long as it is not proselytized and if it is in combination with other theories, but we won't discuss it unless a student brings it up."

The policy is up for second reading at the Washakie County School District No. 1 meeting on Oct. 27, Hejtmanek said.

"We still have a lot of discussion to do about this policy," he said. "It might not even pass second reading. It could be a dead issue."