An Alabama Rep. introduced a bill Friday to allow churches and ministries to hold off-campus religion classes for public school students. He said the request for the measure came from a former school teacher in his district who was fired for reading the Bible and teaching creationism.

Republican Rep. Blaine Galliher from Rainbow City sponsored the bill at the request of Joseph Kennedy, an 84-year-old member of his district, who was terminated in 1980 for reading the Bible and teaching creationism at Spring Garden Elementary School, al.com reported Friday.

Rep. Galliher, a member of Chandler Mountain Baptist Church, said similar legislation had been adopted in several states, including Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Idaho. "It's already been litigated all the way through the court system, so it's constitutional," said Galliher, chairman of the agenda-setting House Rules Committee. more >>

Famed atheist biologist Richard Dawkins had a surprising "oops" moment during an interview yesterday, when he forgot the title of Charles Darwin's most famous book.

Dawkins was debating the Rev. Giles Fraser, former canon chancellor of St. Paul's Cathedral in England, on BBC Radio 4 when the evolutionary biologist could not remember the full title of Darwin's famous book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.  

Dawkins and Fraser, of the Church of England, were debating because of press releases from the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science that had claimed that Christians in Britain tend to be more secular then the "Christian lobbyists" who speak on their behalf. more >>

Indiana Speaker of the House Brian Bosma has killed a Senate bill that would allow creationism and evolution to be taught together in science classes. The bill was referred to the House Rules committee, a procedural move that essentially ensures the legislation will not be heard during the 2012 session.

The Republican speaker had concerns about possible legal challenges to the bill and was hesitant to allow the bill to become law given the time and expense a prolonged legal battle would likely produce.

"I felt, given the fact that we have a U.S. Supreme Court case that appears to me to be directly on point, that this is a fight that really should not be fought at this point," Bosma said Tuesday, according to the Indianapolis Star. "It looked to me to be buying a lawsuit when the state can ill afford it." more >>

As many churches observed "Evolution Weekend," some congregations and other groups decided to celebrate a different perspective on the origins debate with "Question Evolution Day."

The Feb. 12 observance was meant to encourage people to skeptically approach Darwin's theory of evolution. It was coordinated by multiple groups including the Traditional Values Coalition, Creation Ministries International, and the website Piltdownsuperman.com.

"This is not designed to teach Genesis per se, nor is it a platform for debating the age of the Earth; there are plenty of other places for that," said Bob Sorensen of Piltdownsuperman.com, to The Christian Post. more >>

More than 500 churches in ten different countries have agreed to consider this weekend whether Darwinism is compatible with Christianity, as a result of the prompting of The Clergy Letter Project, a group promoting Darwinism as sound science.

Officials from the project say churches all across the United States will be celebrating "Evolution Weekend." But the event has troubled some who note that one of the intentions of the event is to advance the idea that Darwin's theory of evolution is sound.

Michael Zimmerman, founder and executive director of the Project, told The Christian Post that the purpose of "Evolution Weekend" is for the sake of interfaith dialogue regarding religion and science and that deeply religious individuals can also believe that Darwin's theory is true. more >>

Does it contradict Biblical teachings to believe in widely accepted scientific theories like evolution and the Big Bang? To what extent can Christians welcome science into their life without sacrificing piety?

These questions will be central during Evolution Weekend, an annual event initiated by the Clergy Letters Project (CLP) where pastors from around the country in pan-denominational congregations will deliver sermons and hold events discussing the convergence of science and religion.

In its seventh year, over 500 congregations will participate in the event from all 50 states and 10 foreign countries. CLP says the goal is to "elevate the quality of the discussion on this critical topic, and to show that religion and science are not adversaries." more >>