PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The American Civil Liberties Union is suing a suburban school district on behalf of two students, alleging a school employee taught the story of Adam and Eve and other parts of the Bible in biology class. ACLU attorneys said they filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in an effort to get area schools to curtail religious teachings, which have been on the rise during the last 18 months.

The lawsuit says an employee of the suburban Moon Area School District told ninth-grade students on March 16 that God created the world as recounted in the book of Genesis. He said the universe is only 6,000 years old, and said death was unknown until Adam and Eve ate the forbidden apple.

Warren Kooi, technology coordinator for the school district, was a guest speaker in the biology class during his day off.

School officials say students learned creationism after a lesson on evolution. "This was presented as what a creation scientist[sic] presents. Here's what proves it. Here's what disproves it," said Lee Price, attorney for the school district.

The lawsuit seeks a cash award for one of the students and seeks to block creationism lessons next year, when the other will be a ninth-grader. The ACLU said the U.S. Supreme Court prohibits the teaching of creationism as "science" and forbids religious education at public schools.

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