Two U.S. science groups have rejected creationism as a school science subject but also said evolution and religion are not necessarily incompatible.

Public schools should teach only "scientifically based explanations and evidence for the diversity of life," the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine said Friday.

"Teaching creationist ideas in science class confuses students about what constitutes science and what does not," a committee made up of the groups' members said. The committee wrote a new edition of Science, Evolution and Creationism, published  Friday.

Creationism holds that God created life and rejects evolution. 

The book tries to bridge the divide between science and religion, saying that "the evidence for evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith. Science and religion are different ways of understanding the world."

First published in 1984 and last updated in 1999, Science, Evolution and Creationism is intended to provide a current picture of the science of evolution.  

Evolution is "the central organizing principle" of modern biology, the committee said in a media release, and "understanding evolution is essential to identifying and treating disease," said Institute of Medicine president Harvey Fineberg.

Opponents of evolution have been trying to introduce what the committee called "nonscientific" views into public school science classes by teaching creationism or intelligent design, the belief that there must be a grand planner for life because random evolution alone cannot explain all the complexities of life. 

The groups said such efforts, rebuked by a U.S. court in 2005, go on "despite the overwhelming evidence supporting evolution."

The two groups are members of the U.S. National Academies, four organizations that assemble expert committees to advise the U.S. government and the public about science and technology issues.