Teachers Torn Over Religion, Evolution

When science teachers in a small Pennsylvania town were asked last month to read a statement to their classes that introduced students to the concept of “intelligent design,” they refused, citing legal and professional obligations.

In taking that stand against what critics say amounts to thinly disguised religious doctrine, teachers in the 3,600-student Dover Area school system endorsed a position in line with two of the country’s largest groups for science teachers—and the vast majority of leading scientists.

Yet for the past two decades, studies have consistently offered a more complicated picture of high school science teachers’ opinions of religion’s role in their classrooms—one that more closely reflects the views of...