American political scene: Churches should holler for Jesus and schools should indoctrinate Darwin?

In the United States, positions on the controversy between unguided (Darwinian) evolution and intelligent design tend to break out along partisan political lines, with Republicans doubting Darwin and Democrats embracing him.

Not surprising then is leading Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama's recent statement,

"I'm a Christian, and I believe in parents being able to provide children with religious instruction without interference from the state. But I also believe our schools are there to teach worldly knowledge and science. I believe in evolution, and I believe there's a difference between science and faith. That doesn't make faith any less important than science. It just means they're two different things. And I think it's a mistake to try to cloud the teaching of science with theories that frankly don't hold up to scientific inquiry."

Hilary Clinton, his top rival, said something similar recently too.

One thing I find curious is the way these people are always hollering about God and Christianity when they endorse materialist theories of the origin of life and all that.

Meanwhile, Republican John McCain more or less supports teaching what the controversy is about. It's hard to imagine any materialist or Christian fellow traveller wanting that just now.

Note: The poll numbers are completely different in Canada, where, for example,

... some poll figures may surprise those who assume Conservative voters would be more likely to hold religious views. The poll indicates that 31 percent of Conservatives believe God played no part, the same percentage as New Democratic Party (NDP [= socialist]) voters. Only 22 percent of Liberals agree, however.

One obvious outcome is that the controversy would be much more difficult to politicize in Canada. As many votes would be lost as gained.