Two bills that would have allowed teachers to challenge the theory of evolution have failed to pass in the Florida state legislature.

Supporters in the state House and the Senate were unable to garner enough votes for the two different bills.

Conservatives - both social and religious - began promoting the bills in response to the State Board of Education's approval of science standards which called for the teaching of evolution.

"We are contacted frequently by teachers and school administrators who have either been threatened or, more commonly, are running scared," David Gibbs, a lawyer with the Florida based Christian Law Association, told the American Family Association.

Gibbs says educators ask, "'If I say anything, if I discuss this, what will happen?"

He says teachers have said, "If a child raised her hand and asked about creationism or intelligent design, a panic went into my heart. How do I even answer this question? Or could this cost me my job?'"

The Senate version would have stopped school administrators from disciplining teachers who used scientific information to challenge Darwin's theory.

The House bill would have required schools to teach "critical analysis" of evolution.

But critics say the legislation would have injected religious doctrine into public schools under the guise of science.

Source: CBN News, Associated Press, American Family Association