Even though the subject matter is very different between my own research and my colleagues specializing in evolutionary biology, we do share a common approach as to how we develop our scientific ideas and theories. They are much more likely to study genes and processes in a wide range of species. Evolutionary biologists on the other hand specialize in studying the biological diversity of species and the evolutionary process itself.

In my daily work as a cell biologist, most of my time is spent designing and interpreting a wide range of experiments that measure gene expression, regulation of cell signaling pathways, cellular movements, metabolism or cell proliferation. An in-depth discussion of the different types of creationism can be found in the excellent overview by Ronald Numbers entitled ' The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design'. For the purpose of brevity, I will use the all-encompassing term 'creationism' to describe beliefs based on religious scriptures about the development of life on earth. I will first briefly illustrate some aspects of scientific work in biology, and then I will use a specific example from recent Muslim creationist literature to show how it can be potentially detrimental for students who want to develop rigorous scientific thought. I have also realized that one of my key concerns is the harm that teaching creationist ideas in a biology classroom can do to the development of scientific thought in schoolchildren. My first reaction is to say that these ideas are not really scientific and therefore do not belong in a biology class, and I would be similarly opposed to teaching lacrosse rules or musical 'song and dance' routines in a biology class. I have often been asked why we scientists are so resistant to introducing ideas such as 'creation science' in the biology classroom.

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