Dover Trial: Intelligent Design Violates Establishment Clause
by TChris
Science, rationality, and the Constitution prevailed in Dover, where the school board tried to undermine the science underlying evolution by promoting a religious alternative, intelligent design. (TalkLeft coverage of the lawsuit is here.) Judge John Jones III decided that the board's policy violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by endorsing a religious belief.
"In making this determination, we have addressed the seminal question of whether ID is science," Jones wrote. "We have concluded that it is not, and moreover that ID cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents."
The school board's policy required teachers to inform biology students of "gaps" in Darwin's theory of evolution while directing their attention to a book on intelligent design in the school library. Judge Jones was scathing in his criticism of the board members, who have since been voted off the school board.
"The breathtaking inanity of the board's decision is evident when considered against the factual backdrop which has now been fully revealed through this trial," Jones said in a 139-page decision. "The students, parents, and teachers of the Dover Area School District deserved better than to be dragged into this legal maelstrom, with its resulting utter waste of monetary and personal resources."
Judge Jones (appointed by the first current President Bush) recognized that religious extremists will brand him an activist judge. He answered those critics in advance: "this is manifestly not an activist Court." Defending the Constitution is part of a judge's job description. Judge Jones should be commended for doing his job fearlessly.
More information (including a link to the opinion) is available at the ACLU of Pennsylvania's website.
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