The narrow definition of "creationism" was established by a cluster of organizations that emerged in the 1960s. The movement also champions a "young earth" merely thousands of years old and the literal creation account in the Book of Genesis, often including six 24-hour days."

The new ruling from Pennsylvania's Judge John E. Jones endorses a third definition advocated by liberal and scientific groups. In this version, creationism covers the belief that a guiding intelligence is required to explain the origin and complexity of nature, the contention of the "intelligent design" (ID) movement."

University of Wisconsin science historian Ronald L. Numbers, a critic of ID and author of "The Creationists," thinks it's inaccurate to lump ID and creationism together, commenting that this is "the easiest way to discredit intelligent design."

To [Michael] Ruse, what drives ID is understandable opposition to "the secular religion of Darwinism," which treats nature in terms of "blind forces" and strict materialism, and seeks to exclude supernatural concepts.

That's the nub of the complaint lodged by Austria's Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, who provoked a firestorm with an op-ed piece in The New York Times last July. He said Roman Catholicism teaches that "the human intellect can readily and clearly discern purpose and design in the natural world." Schonborn pursues the case in the current issue of First Things magazine.

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