Last week the first draft of the science curriculum that would be used in Texas schools for the next 10 years was released. The size of the fight to come was quickly made evident by members of the state Board of Education who want to inject religion into the public schools. The draft, the work of science teachers and academics, would remove language from the guidelines that govern the teaching of science that mandates that classrooms include covering the "weaknesses" of major scientific theories. The only major scientific theory the conservatives have in their bull''s eye is evolution. The draft was the opening shot in what promises to be a long and contentious debate next year. The guide that directs science teachers to include lessons on the "strengths" and "weaknesses" of scientific theories has been part of the state''s teaching guidelines for decades. But the guide has meant little because there is no detail on what that means. The growing power of the conservatives on the State Board, however, could make that mandate explicit, especially as the board goes through rewriting the entire teaching curriculum. Article Continues Off Site