Darwin's theory of evolution, she adds, doesn't take into account a creator "but doesn't discount a creator," either. That ambiguity sits fine with her, she says, even though she herself believes that a creative force directs the laws of nature. What bothers her is the thought of a mandate that intelligent design or creation theory should be taught in public school science classrooms.

"I don't want a mandate that it has to be taught in science classes, any more than I want a mandate that I have to dissect frogs in religion classes," Rabbi Rosen said.

The need to separate science and religion lies behind the Rev. Daniel Webster's opposition to Buttars' bill. The Rev. Webster, spokesman for the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, notes that Buttars' religious beliefs "inform him, just as my religious beliefs inform me. But not to the point where I want to impose them on other people."

The Episcopal Church has not taken an official stand on evolution, he says, and "many Episcopalians will have very divergent opinions" about Darwin's ideas.

The Rev. Webster is one of 40 Utah clergy who have signed a national letter addressed to school boards across the country urging them to "preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth."

So far, 238 congregations in 43 states and three countries have also signed on to celebrate "Evolution Sunday" on Feb. 12, the 197th anniversary of Darwin's birth. The idea is to make a statement that religion and science "are not adversaries."

The Catholic Church also does not interpret Genesis literally. The Catholic Church believes, as Pope John II said in a 1986 address, that it's possible that the human body "could have been gradually prepared in the forms of antecedent living beings."

But the process still required God and was not simply a matter of chance, notes Susan Northway, director of the Office of Religious Education for the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City. The Catholic Church believes that "the Creation of this world was always with humans in mind," Northway said. "We believe that humans are to be stewards of this Earth."

She adds that Catholics believe that only the body evolved, not the soul. "Every person's soul is individually created by God."

On Tuesday, The Vatican newspaper published an article saying that intelligent design is not science and that teaching it alongside evolutionary theory in school classrooms only creates confusion.