21st century, 1 2....16th Century, 0

In December the 21st Century won a victory against the 16th century. Well the 21st Century won another round today in the reddest of all red states, Utah.

In a defeat for critics of Darwin, the Utah House of Representatives on Monday voted down a bill intended to challenge the theory of evolution in high school science classes.

The bill had been viewed nationally, by people on each side of the science education debate, as an important proposal because Utah is such a conservative state, with a Legislature dominated by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

But the bill died on a 46-to-28 vote in the Republican-controlled House after being amended by the majority whip, Stephen H. Urquhart, a Mormon who said he thought God did not have an argument with science. The amendment stripped out most of the bill's language, leaving only that the state board of education "shall establish curriculum requirements relating to scientific instruction."

I'm not really sure what the Mormon mythology has to say about evolution but it was refreshing that a majority of Mormons in the Utah House voted in favor of the separation of church and state.