It looks like Athens School Board Director Matthew Linkletter doesn't get Darwin's theory of evolution.

Otherwise, he'd understand that in the world of science -- much like in the world as seen through Darwin's eyes -- it's the fittest that survive. And in this case, the theory of evolution has been studied, vetted, scrutinized, applied and studied again. It's survived the intense investigation of generations of scientists so well that every major medical and scientific society in the world maintains that evolution explains how life developed on earth. Other theories about the evolution of life on earth have come and gone, disproven and discredited -- but evolution has survived.

Nevertheless, Linkletter wants School Administrative District 59, which includes the towns of Madison, Athens, Brighton Plantation and Starks, to stop teaching evolution. He airily dismisses the validity of the concept which, he says, "you can't show, observe or prove." And if evolution is not verifiable, says Linkletter, "then maybe we should leave it out of the science classes. When you make a statement that's not backed by facts and just represents a world view, then it has no place." He's joined by district Board Chairman Norman Luce, who said evolution might be better taught in a philosophy classroom.

Try that one on all the scientists who understand that, as Boston University history professor Thomas Glick says, "Evolution is the foundational theory of biology and therefore of all life sciences, including medicine." Tell that to the 38 Nobel laureates -- among them physicists, chemists and medical experts -- who jointly signed a letter to the Kansas State Board of Education protesting that board's decision to balance the teaching of evolution with the religiously based, Creationist theory of intelligent design. The move, they wrote, would "politicize scientific inquiry."

And tell that to the chastened Dover, Penn., Board of Education, whose members were on the receiving end of U.S. District Judge John E. Jones' scorn and contempt when he wrote of the "breathtaking inanity" of the arguments board members used to support their attempt to institute the teaching of intelligent design in the district. And by the way, wrote Judge Jones, that move wasn't just inane, it violated the constitutional separation of church and state.

Or better yet, Linkletter and Luce should not lecture anybody anything about the theory of evolution while they're sitting on the school board. In the first place, the state sets the curriculum mandate when it comes to science education and the state says that evolution must be taught. In the second place, neither Linkletter nor Luce know what they're talking about; we hope their ability to manage the school budget is at a higher skill level.

Let's get real here: The reason Linkletter and Luce have broached this subject has nothing to do with education and everything to do with politics. It's a clever twist on this long- running war played out in America's public schools -- don't force creationism to be taught, just diminish the status of evolution. But removing evolution from the science classroom doesn't only leave a vacuum -- that space is then colonized by the religious dogma that's behind the removal.

Ultimately, Linkletter, Luce and their ilk will lose the evolutionary battle of ideas. Time and again, the teaching of creationism and the diminishing of evolution's intellectual stature have failed. But there's a cost: While the Dover school board members were ousted from their seats, that was only after a costly battle for the school district as well as bitter and unfortunate divisions among colleagues, neighbors and friends.

And like a mutant gene that keeps popping up to disable the body politic, it seems America will never be finished with this battle, despite winning all the skirmishes.

We're with Madison town manager Norman Dean, a 34-year veteran science teacher who counts among his former students Matthew Linkletter. Take evolution out of the science classroom? "That's absolutely stupid," said Dean.