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Last week, in another blow to common sense and American high school education, Georgia announced that it would be taking the word “evolution” out of its biology curriculum. This policy compromises educational standards by seeking to marry religious belief with scientific theory.

Even Kansas, America’s breadbasket and conservative stronghold, overturned their 1999 decision to remove evolutionary theory from their schools. After the original decision had been made, only one of the anti-evolutionary board members was re-elected. The people of Kansas apparently did not want their religion and their public education to mix.

This resounding mandate for evolution is a good sign that most people in America can differentiate between science and belief. And, in a country where 83 percent of the population believes in the immaculate conception (compared to only 28 percent for evolution), it shows that we can leave our dogmas at the schoolhouse door.

Science and belief are innately different and should be treated as such, especially in schools. Belief, by definition, is a faith-based system. It does not require, nor does it even really want, evidence. Science, on the other hand, is based on evidence – the theory fits the facts. To create ad hoc theories is to practice bad science. Good science – what we should be teaching in ninth grade biology – does not ignore contradictory evidence. Good religion – what we should be teaching in Sunday school – must accept that any contradictory evidence has no bearing on their fundamental tenets.

Evolutionary theory is the result of almost 150 years of science that went on after Darwin’s original conception of the origins of species. Its ideas are so entwined into the fabric of modern biology that nothing makes sense without it. To argue that evolution is “just” a theory, as some creationists have done, is misleading.

A scientific theory is a very different animal from a lay theory. As Stephen Gould wrote in Discover, “facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world’s data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts.” Evolution, as Gould says, is both a theory and a fact: “Evolutionists have been very clear about this distinction of fact and theory from the very beginning, if only because we have always acknowledged how far we are from completely understanding the mechanisms (theory) by which evolution (fact) occurred.” Thus, to call evolution “just” a theory, does a disservice to the vocabulary of science and ignores the extensive evidence in support of evolution.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Georgia’s school board is attempting to defend their decision by saying that evolution is “unwelcome in many parts of the state,” calling it a “buzzword that causes a lot of negative reactions.” While not surprising in the heart of the Bible belt, it flies in the face of the objective nature of public education. “Negative reactions” is not a viable criterium for curriculum.

When evolution is taught in schools, it is taught based on objective, scientific evidence. The classroom is a place of reason, where controversy does not control curriculum. Beliefs, no matter how strong and prevalent in society, should not be taught in schools. Like a president leading by poll numbers, a school run by popularity does a disservice to the students it claims to teach, making them unprepared for a life in a world where there is no school board dictating truths.

A common objection from the right wing about “liberal” teachers in school is that they are corrupting students with subjective ideas. They cannot have it both ways. Creationism is as subjective as things get. In the process of objectifying our schools, the first thing we should do is remove creationism, not evolution.

American culture is filled with Judeo-Christian references. From our crusading president to popular programming like “Angels in America” and “Joan of Arcadia,” God is literally everywhere. But omnipotence does not automatically allot a desk in the classroom. There is a reason it is called faith, it cannot be taught in the classroom. Any creed worth its fish and wine should be able to deal with a basic biology lesson.

Moon is a second-year psychology student. E-mail him at jmoon@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.