In Dover PA the school board was the first in the United States to introduce Intelligent Design (ID) to classrooms. That board was then sued according to the New York Times contending...
"...that intelligent design was religious creationism in new packaging, and that the board was trying to impose its religion on students. The parents were represented by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and a private law firm, Pepper Hamilton LLP."
The policy required teachers to read a prepared statement at the start of the semester saying that there were "gaps" in the theory of evolution, that intelligent design was an alternative and that students could learn more about it by reading a textbook "Of Pandas and People," available in the high school library.
The newly elected school board, all of them opposed to ID, have stated they have a couple of options open to them. They can refuse to appeal the case if it goes against the School Board and or simply remove the policy.
Here is part of the court transcript courtesy of The Panda's Thumb ...
Q Actually in this version of the book it describes who creationists are, doesn't it, if you look at pages 22 and 23 and 24. It says there's different types of creationist's literature. There are older [old earth] creationists, younger [young earth] creationists, agnostic creationists, right?
A Yes. We were trying to give some articulation to the breadth of what that term means.
Q And then if you could turn back to page 22, you explain that "Creation is the theory that various forms of life began abruptly, with their distinctive features already intact: Fish with fins and scales, birds with feathers and wings, mammals with fur and mammary glands." That's how you defined creation, correct?
A Yes.
Q All right. And I would like to take, you to take a look at an excerpt from Pandas and People. Turn to page 99 in the excerpt I gave you.
A All right.
Q Says, "Intelligent design means that various forms of life began abruptly through an intelligent agency, with their distinctive features already intact: Fish with fins and scales, birds with feathers, beaks and wings, et cetera." Do you see that?
A I see it.
Q So that's pretty much the exact same sentence substituting creation for intelligent design, isn't that right?
A The reason that you find the similarity in the two passages is because this obviously was at a time when we were developing the manuscript. We had not chosen the term "intelligent design" at that point. We were trying to, this was just a place holder term until we came to grips with which of the plausible two or three terms that are in scientific literature we would settle on. And that was the last thing we did before the book was revise, I mean was sent to the publisher.
Q It was creation, creation, creation until the end and then it was intelligent design.
(Court transcript, pp.97-99)
See also Middle Ages, here we come!
evolution, Religion, Science, Intelligent Design, Kansas, Current events
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