Taking sides in the evolutionary war.

A UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PROFESSOR who drew national protest over a proposed religion course says he was forced to step down as chairman of the Department of Religious Studies, adding more fuel to an already emotionally fired story.

"The university penalized me and denied me my constitutionally protected right to speak and express my mind," Paul Mirecki said in a written statement.

University spokeswoman Lynn Bretz said Mirecki stepped down on the recommendation of faculty members. "The university stands unequivocally in support of his First Amendment rights and his rights to academic freedom," she said.

Mirecki, who remains a professor at the university, caused outrage when it was revealed that he had an ulterior motive in teaching the course, "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design and Creationism." Faculty members approved the course after the words "and other Religious Mythologies" were removed from its title, but in e-mails to a student group, Mirecki revealed that he planned the course to teach so-called "intelligent design" theory as mythology to infuriate fundamentalists.

Mirecki later apologized and withdrew the course. He was also treated for injuries after he was attacked by two men who were angered by his comments.

Intelligent design theory has evolved in recent years a modified version of creationism. While it does not directly refer to God, it holds that there are complexities of life that can't be explained in any other way than by an "intelligent designer."

Although many university leaders may equate taking sides in the evolution/intelligent design argument to walking blindfolded in a minefield, a few have been bold enough to take a stand. One who has is at the heart of the maelstrom: University of Kansas Chancellor Robert Hemenway. Hemenway wrote to faculty and students in September, saying, "The attack on evolution continues across America and compels me to again state the obvious: The University of Kansas is a major public research university. As an academic, scientific community we must affirm scientific principles."

University of Idaho President Timothy White also expressed his position in a letter, saying, "I write to articulate the University of Idaho's position with respect to evolution: This is the only curriculum that is appropriate to be taught in our biophysical sciences."

In December, Princeton University (N.J.) President Shirley Tilghman, speaking to a group of scholars at Oxford, said, "Evolution is a theory that has arisen in the scientific field and has been tested and challenged for 150 years. Intelligent design is a philosophical position that can be taught in social science classes or philosophy classes, but it's not science."

And Hunter Rawlings, acting president of Cornell University (N.Y.), used his recent State of the University address to speak out against intelligent design. "The issue in question is the challenge to science posed by religiously based opposition to evolution, described, in its current form, as intelligent design," he said. "ID is a religious belief masquerading as a secular idea."