In the final scene of Inherit the Wind, Henry Drummond picks up two books before leaving the courtroom: Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and the Origin of the Species and The Holy Bible. He then proceeds to put them together with a slap-in-the-face message. That message is that religion and science can coexist. It is on that message that I am basing this commentary.

I’m not going to argue about Evolution or Creation, but what I am going to argue about is the fact that, while religion and science can coexist, they cannot commingle.

The citizens of the United States (at least the tax-paying ones) fund our public schools. Seeing as the taxpayers aren’t exclusively affiliated with one faith, it is against the law to preach religious teachings as science. If such a thing were to happen, we would have to compensate for all of the other religions (that’s a lot: technically, Satanism is a religion, and I’m sure that there are a few tax-paying Satanists in the country).

The solution is to keep things separate; once again, religion and science can coexist. A student may take a course in Taoism, Buddhism, Catholicism, or any other "ism"; it’s his right. However, it is also his right to be able to take a biology course that strictly teaches scientific theory..

Has William Jennings Bryan been exhumed? It would appear so, seeing as Darwin is on trial again in Kansas. (Rest in peace, my foot.) Now, those who support creationism are calling it "intelligent design." To put it bluntly; it’s a new actor in the same role. In 1925, the actor played a literal interpretation of the Bible. In 2005, he’s adjusted his performance to try to hide his tracks.

It is against the law to teach religious stories and call them science; against the law to do so in public schools, anyway. Parochial schools can have a ball; they’re privately funded.

What’s important is that the teaching of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution does not annul religion. It doesn’t work vice-versa because religion cannot be taught as scientific theory. It works like this: Darwin can be taught because it is secular. If religion is to be taught as science, it’s all or nothing: every single creation story or no creation story. As soon as the Bible gets on the curriculum, so too will the Koran and the Torah (and then Kansas will start complaining again).