(Due to an editing error this story said Gov. Jennifer Granholm opposes the teaching of evolution in science classes. Granholm is against the teaching of intelligent design, not evolution. Correction appended)

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos's campaign has focused on Michigan's struggling economy. But he made a rare foray into the politically dangerous debate over social issues last week when he told The Associated Press that he supports teaching intelligent design alongside evolution in public schools.

The DeVos campaign later backpedaled. It released a statement Wednesday saying the AP report was inaccurate and that DeVos only supports letting local school boards decide what to teach.

"In the end, I believe in our system of local control," he said in the statement. "Local school boards should have the opportunity to offer evolution and intelligent design in their curriculums."

The state Board of Education currently issues curriculum guidelines laying out what students should know upon graduating high school.

The guidelines say that schools should teach evolution, but make no mention of intelligent design.

Intelligent design is the idea that life on Earth is so complex that it could not have evolved through natural selection but was created and guided by a supernatural being. Proponents, often affiliated with religious groups, argue that intelligent design is a scientific theory that should be taught alongside evolution in public schools.

Like many in the scientific community, Anthropology Prof. Beverly Strassman disagreed.

"It's a pseudoscientific theory," she said. "You can't compare something based on faith against a scientific theory."

More than 80 years after a Tennessee court fined John Scopes $100 for teaching evolution in his high school classroom, the debate over teaching intelligent design in science classes has heated up again.

After the Kansas state school board adopted curriculum standards that questioned evolution, a school board primary in August ended with the election of a pro-evolution majority.

In a study of the United States and 31 European countries published this summer by Science magazine, the United States ranks second to last in the percentage of adults who believe in the theory of evolution, ahead of only Turkey.

The state Board of Education is currently writing binding graduation standards for public high school students. The board delayed approval of the standards earlier this month to allow for more comment from legislators. Some speculated that the delay resulted from debate over the standards for teaching evolution.

Liz Boyd, spokeswoman for Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, said Granholm opposes teaching intelligent design in science classes.

"We need to teach established theory, which is evolution, in our science classrooms," Boyd said. "But we can explore the controversy over intelligent design in a current events or comparative religion class."

Education Prof. Nancy Songer said a current events class would be the ideal place to discuss intelligent design.

"The theory of intelligent design has some interesting ideas, but there is no scientific evidence to support any of the ideas," she said. "It would be a great topic in a current events course."

She said local school boards shouldn't have the option of teaching intelligent design in science classes.

"What's problematic about letting school boards decide is that it confuses the issue about whether it's a scientific issue or not," Songer said. "If it's allowed to replace scientific theory, it just confuses students."