Cartoon used in high school biology class equates evolution with Satan

ATLANTA, July 8 (UPI) --Henry W. Grady High School is facing backlash after a biology teacher showed a cartoon equating evolution with Satan during a PowerPoint presentation.

The controversial cartoon depicts dueling castles labeled "Evolution (Satan)" and "Creation (Christ)." On top of the evolution castle, there is a flag reading "humanism" and balloons marked with the words euthanasia, divorce, homosexuality, pornography, abortion and racism.

"Evolution is part of high school biology curriculum," the 50-slide PowerPoint read. "You are entitled to challenge everything and encouraged to believe whatever you would like."

Anquinette Jones, a freshman biology teacher, said the PowerPoint she assigned through the Blackboard system was designed by Atlanta Public Schools (APS) and was part of a file sharing database for teachers. Both the APS project manager and science coordinator have not commented on the matter.

Freshman Griffin Ricker said Jones was angered by the fact that students notified the administration.

"She had a 10-minute rant," Ricker said. "She yelled and said, 'This is on the APS website, and it was certified.'"

Other students switched out of the class specifically because Jones refused to teach evolution.

Fellow science teacher Nikolai Curtis said the APS hasn't set a specific policy on teaching creationism, but feels the cartoon was inappropriate.

"[It] dealt specifically with the religious controversy associated with it, and one of the major rules of teaching evolution is that it is science, and it is based in fact, based in evidence," Curtis told The Southerner, the high school's newspaper.

Matt Cardoza, the Georgia Department of Education director of communications, said that creationism is not included in the state curriculum for biology due to the Supreme Court case Edwards v. Aguillard, which prohibits states from requiring schools to teach it.

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Cartoon used in high school biology class equates evolution with Satan