“Let’s test Darwin, teacher says” – says the BBC, echoing the various newspapers. Nick Cowan of Blue Coats school has been urging the Education Secretary to allow Truth In Science packs – which push Intelligent Design (ID) – to be used in schools. The story talks about Cowan’s credentials again and again, and quotes him as saying:

“There’s a sense that if you criticise Darwin you must be some kind of religious nut case.”

But nowhere in the story does it mention that he’s got something of a vested interest, because he is apparently a Young Earth Creationist. According to Wikipedia:

Young Earth creationism is a religious doctrine which teaches that the Earth and life on Earth were created by a direct action of God relatively recently (about 6,000 to 10,000 years ago). It is generally held by those Christians and Jews who believe that the ancient Hebrew text of Genesis is a literal account of historical events, that evidence for a strictly factual interpretation of the text is present in the world today, and that scientific evidence does not support Darwinian evolution or geological uniformitarianism

Which means the headline, “Let us test Darwin, teacher says” is misleading, because the story is missing out a key bit of information. “Let us test Darwin, creationist says” would be more accurate – but then again, that would make the story as newsworthy as “bear shits in woods” or “Pope: Catholic”.