Most graduate students are familiar with the pinch of deadlines, but biology major John Rajca says he's laboring under an unholy strain.

Rajca's thesis is all that stands between him and a master's of science degree from the Institute for Creation Research, a tiny Christian graduate school in Santee that teaches, among other things, that evolution is a myth. Rajca is just praying that ICR will be allowed to continue granting degrees--at least until he can finish his paper.

"I want to get it done ASAP, just in case," said Rajca, nervous at the news that a new state agency is preparing to reevaluate ICR's graduate program. He and his professors say his paper, based in part on the belief that a "Great Flood" formed fossils by drowning all but the animals aboard Noah's Ark, is good science interpreted within a biblical framework. But he knows many state officials would call it theology.

"I've got the whole state of California ready to slice me in half," he said. "Nobody's got that kind of pressure."

They've been called busybodies, book-burners and glint-eyed folk. Their graduate school has been likened to a house of voodoo learning, and their curriculum has been knocked as neo-Dark Ages nonsense. But, beginning this week, the men who run the nation's only creation science graduate school say, they are bracing for their most formidable challenge ever.

As of Jan. 1, 1991, a new 15-member state council has been given the power to evaluate post-secondary schools like ICR, taking over the reins from the state Department of Education. In doing so, they enter a bitter debate over ICR's definition of science and its right to religious freedoms--a complex theoretical battle that has occupied top state education officials for more than a year.

In March, 1990, based on a recommendation from a state Board of Education evaluation team, State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig sought to revoke ICR's license to operate. The institute's physics, biology, geology and science education curriculum was not as rigorous as other comparable degree-granting institutions, he said. Calling ICR teachings "science," said one Honig aide, was like peddling Fords, but calling them Chevys.

In April, ICR filed suit in federal court, alleging that Honig and other state administrators had violated its constitutional right of free expression. And seven months later, in November, Honig backed down, citing a technical flaw in the department's evaluation criteria. He promised that no further action would be taken until the new state body took over in 1991, when his authority over ICR would be significantly diminished.