[Troubleshooter]

Ok, the root of the argument here appears to be not whether mutation and speciation occur but what is the First Cause of man, correct?

That being the case, I believe that the argument dies when we realize that the current evolutionary paradigm is putting the pieces of evidence together to create a theory as to the most likely cause of our current state of evolution and that the bible says "God says it happened this way."

Science deals in trends and degrees of likelihood, the *insert appropriate religious text here* says with 100% certainty it happened this way.

As to how either of those is presented in a school environment, I can see where a teacher, or even the text, would gloss over the topic of evolution and just say that "scientists say that this is how it happened." That is not a failing of the scientist or the theory, but of the teacher or the publisher.

Again, evolution, when presented correctly, is science, and creationism, no matter how you present it, is religion.

So mote it be...