The Interacademy Panel on international issues, a scientific group made up of scientific organisations, including our own Royal Academy, has issued a statement calling for the teaching of evolution in schools as opposed to other unscientific hypotheses about the emergence of life and mankind in particular. And it's about bloody time!
Of all the areas of science taught in schools across the world, the theory of evolution is the only theory where students are asked to critically examine the theory, and assess alternative explanations for the creation of life. Newtons Laws of motion are not subjected to the same rigour, nor his laws of optics, nor Einstein's theory of relativity, nor Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism, nor QED, QCD or String theory, and some of these are rockier than evolution! Newton's laws break down at near light speed, to be supplanted by Relativity, which , in turn, is incompatible with Quantum theory - and don't even start on String theory!
No, all these are given to the student as is, with no expectation of critical examination, but Evolution, because it directly contradicts the Word of Gawd-uh, has to get special treatment.
Mind you, if there had been a verse in the bible which went:
And the Lord said, I will know the whereabouts and the movement of every object, yea down to the smallest mote.
or
And the Lord said the days of your life shall proceed at the same measure, no matter where in my creation ye reside.
you can be sure that Quantum theory and Relativity theory would get the same treatment.
Fortunately, the writers of the bible didn't see these theories coming, and so weren't able to write the counter-arguments in.
Mind you, if it weren't for the Theory of Evolution, the fundies wouldn't have anything to expose their nuttery, and might therefore be more able to hide their more frightening ideas for public policy. ie stoning/burning adulterers, gays and athiests.