Posted by angry_sasquatch on 12/20/2005, 3:49 pm
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Judge Rules Against Pa. Biology Curriculum
By MARTHA RAFFAELE
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - "Intelligent design'' cannot be mentioned in
biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district, a federal judge
said Tuesday, ruling in one of the biggest courtroom clashes on
evolution since the 1925 Scopes trial.
Dover Area School Board members violated the Constitution when they
ordered that its biology curriculum must include the notion that life on
Earth was produced by an unidentified intelligent cause, U.S. District
Judge John E. Jones III said. Several members repeatedly lied to cover
their motives even while professing religious beliefs, he said.
The school board policy, adopted in October 2004, was believed to
have been the first of its kind in the nation.
"The citizens of the Dover area were poorly served by the members of
the Board who voted for the ID Policy,'' Jones wrote.
The board's attorneys had said members were seeking to improve
science education by exposing students to alternatives to Charles
Darwin's theory that evolution develops through natural selection.
Intelligent-design proponents argue that the theory cannot fully explain
the existence of complex life forms.
The plaintiffs challenging the policy argued that intelligent design
amounts to a secular repackaging of creationism, which the courts
have already ruled cannot be taught in public schools. The judge agreed.
"We find that the secular purposes claimed by the Board amount to a
pretext for the Board's real purpose, which was to promote religion in
the public school classroom,'' he wrote in his 139-page opinion.
The Dover policy required students to hear a statement about
intelligent design before ninth-grade biology lessons on evolution. The
statement said Charles Darwin's theory is "not a fact'' and has
inexplicable "gaps.'' It refers students to an intelligent-design textbook,
"Of Pandas and People,'' for more information.
Jones wrote that he wasn't saying the intelligent design concept
shouldn't be studied and discussed, saying its advocates "have bona
fide and deeply held beliefs which drive their scholarly endeavors.''
But, he wrote, "our conclusion today is that it is unconstitutional to
teach ID as an alternative to evolution in a public school science
classroom.''
The controversy divided the community and galvanized voters to oust
eight incumbent school board members who supported the policy in
the Nov. 8 school board election.
Said the judge: "It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so
staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public,
would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real
purpose behind the ID Policy.''
The board members were replaced by a slate of eight opponents who
pledged to remove intelligent design from the science curriculum.
Eric Rothschild, the lead attorney for the families who challenged the
policy, called the ruling "a real vindication for the parents who had the
courage to stand up and say there was something wrong in their
school district.''
Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More
Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., which represented the school board,
did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.
The dispute is the latest chapter in a long-running debate over the
teaching of evolution dating back to the famous 1925 Scopes Monkey
Trial, in which Tennessee biology teacher John T. Scopes was fined
$100 for violating a state law that forbade teaching evolution. The
Tennessee Supreme Court reversed his conviction on a technicality,
and the law was repealed in 1967.
Jones heard arguments in the fall during a six-week trial in which
expert witnesses for each side debated intelligent design's scientific
merits. Other witnesses, including current and former school board
members, disagreed over whether creationism was discussed in board
meetings months before the curriculum change was adopted.
The case is among at least a handful that have focused new attention
on the teaching of evolution in the nation's schools.
Earlier this month, a federal appeals court in Georgia heard arguments
over whether evolution disclaimer stickers placed in a school system's
biology textbooks were unconstitutional. A federal judge in January
ordered Cobb County school officials to immediately remove the
stickers, which called evolution a theory, not a fact.
In November, state education officials in Kansas adopted new
classroom science standards that call the theory of evolution into question.
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