The United Kingdom government has banned the teaching of creationism as a scientific theory in free schools and academies, which are the equivalent of a 'public' school in the United States. The move was done in the interests of having a "broad and balanced curriculum," according to UPI.
The remarkable decision was part of a document published on June 9th that laid out new clauses for church academies and stated that creationism is not widely accepted as a scientific theory.
The clauses said that creationism:
is rejected by most mainstream churches and religious traditions, including the major providers of state funded schools such as the [Anglican] [Catholic] Churches, as well as the scientific community. It does not accord with the scientific consensus or the very large body of established scientific evidence; nor does it accurately and consistently employ the scientific method, and as such it should not be presented to pupils at the Academy as a scientific theory.
For the purposes of this document, creationism is defined as, "any doctrine or theory which holds that natural biological processes cannot account for the history, diversity, and complexity of life on earth and therefore rejects the scientific theory of evolution."
Pavan Dhaliwal, head of public affairs for the British Humanist Association, told Politics UK, "Coupled with the fact that maintained schools must follow the national curriculum, which from September will include a module on evolution at the primary level, we believe that this means that the objectives of the campaign are largely met."
Thousands of schools in America that received public funding still teach creationism as an "alternative" to evolution, according to Slate. Such practices clearly have an impact on the country, as a recent Gallup poll showed that over 40% of Americans hold the creationist belief that God created humanity as it currently exists a mere 10,000 years ago.