A report by the Committee on Culture, Science and Education is rolling out the big guns against advocates of creationism. It states that the biblically-based theory endangers human rights and democracy.

But the Council of Europe is opposed to adopting the report and has referred it back to be reworked.

The definitive text of the report was published by French socialist Guy Lengagne. "If we are not careful, creationism could become a threat to human rights" it states.

He leaves no doubt of how dangerous he finds the theory, which holds that the earth did not evolve into what it is today, but was created by God according to the biblical account. Hence the title of the report, "The Dangers of Creationism in Education."

Creationism in any of its forms or religious expressions, "is not based on facts", writes Lengagne in the report. "From a scientific view point there is absolutely no doubt that evolution is a central theory for our understanding of the Universe and of life on Earth."

Lengagne warns especially against teaching creationism in biology lessons as an alternative to the theory of evolution. It should be taught, if at all, in religious education.

A majority on the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly found Lengagne’s report, still to be debated this week, to be insufficiently reflective. 63 of the 119 members rejected it and referred it back for reconsideration by the Committee. The Chairman of the Conservative bloc, Belgian Luc van der Brande, explained that criticism of creationism was unbalanced.

Rapporteur Lengagne, a lecturer in mathematics at the University of Amiens, gave drastic examples in the report of what could happen if creationists were to gain influence. The search for a cure for AIDS could be obstructed, and fundamentalism and extremism strengthened.

Lengagne gives an explicit warning of the links between religious extremism, which often lurks behind denial of the theory of evolution, and right-wing politics. Advocates of strict creationism were out to replace democracy by theocracy.

Lengagne reacted with horror at the Council’s criticism. "We are witnessing a change of direction for a return to the Middle Ages, and too many members of this Assembly can’t see it" he said.