CAMPAIGNERS are also pushing for stricter rules to keep the teaching of creationism out of schools.

Paul Braterman, an emeritus professor of chemistry at Glasgow University and a founder of the British Centre for Science Education, a campaign to keep religion out of science classes, said he wanted Scotland to follow the lead of England and introduce guidance that creationism should not be presented as scientific theory.

Dr Nagy Iskander, above, a surgeon and director of the JAM (Jesus and Me) Trust in East Kilbride, has been described as one of "Europe's most active creationists" by Ken Ham, the founder of Answers in Genesis, a US-based religious ministry which seeks to promote a creationist account of the history of the world. Iskander has helped organise a conference in Scotland this weekend involving speakers from Answers in Genesis and recently took part in a debate on religion at a local school.

He said: "Creation according to the Christian faith is a supernatural act of God, so it will not be repeated and we can't test creation in the lab. Evolution needs to take place over millions of years and we cannot test that either. My view on this is we should mention everything – we should examine all the evidence and all the facts and have an open and civilised discussion about all of this without excluding one or the other."