Creationists lie low in Darwin dispute

* Creationist groups who want to see a traditional biblical explanation for the world taught as a viable alternative to evolution have been boosted by moves in Kansas to remove Darwin from the school syllabuses. However, fear of victimisation is keeping some proponents of the unorthodox view from speaking out. They believe that today's biodiversity is the product of an act of creation 4,000 years ago rather than evolution over billions of years. David Tyler, secretary of the Biblical Creation Society and a lecturer in management sciences at Manchester Metropolitan University, said there were a number of academics working in the biological sciences in British universities who believed evolution was a theory with little evidence to support it. But he said they were not prepared to publicly support the creationist alternative. "People are so touchy about this issue - it would be pretty fatal career wise for creationists to put their heads above the parapet," said Mr Tyler.

Soapbox, page 14.