WASHINGTON, August 2, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – US President George W. Bush has voiced support to teaching the "intelligent design," a God-centered alternative to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, to US students.

Bush told reporters from several US newspapers that science instructors should teach intelligence design alongside the traditional views about the origin of life, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported Tuesday, August 2.

Many Christian conservatives in the United States say intelligent design, which seeks to bridge science and theology, should receive equal standing alongside the teaching of evolution -- a position Bush endorsed.

"I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought," he stressed.

"You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas. The answer is yes," Bush said.

While governor of Texas, Bush advocated that, alongside evolution, students should learn about "creationism," the literal, biblical account that all living things were created in a seven-day period.

Many mainstream scientists and educators, however, call intelligent design a backdoor attempt to introduce religion into public education.

Two leading research groups, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, maintain there is no scientific basis for intelligent design, and oppose its inclusion in US science curricula.

However, a conservative think-tank, the Washington-based Discovery Institute, has become a leading proponent of intelligent design, and has compiled a list of more than 400 scientists, including 70 biologists, who are skeptical about evolution.

The intelligent design theory says life on earth is too complex to have developed through evolution, implying that a higher power must have had a hand in creation.