Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Judge Rules Against Pa. Biology Curriculum

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.

So much for Free Speech.

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.

OK, I get it. The reason for challenging ID is that it is a non-religious (secular) way to say something religious. Makes sense to me. Sort of like a Christmas tree is a way of jamming religion down the throat of poor innocent children. We need to save them from this trauma. It's time to burn all those trees right along with all the books that mention God or Christ, or heaven forbid, a Creator.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This "decision" is mistaken if it assumes that the theory of intelligent designe is theology. The theory could be cast in a theological light, but it is also presented as a "possible" explanation for scientific phenomena that bear further scrutany.
Why is it that an idea can so terroize those who fancy themselves as the guardians of our intellectual freedoms?
Why is it that a brief statement of a hypothesis can galvanize and mobilize the forces of the left?
When did science become scientism?
How can the government tell teachers what not to teach and this is not censorship?
Where are the paragons of academic freedom?
Why is not Neo-Darwinism a religion? Does it not purport to explain the origins of life and the purposes thereof?
Fascism will slither in under the cover of our double standards. Ask any German over sixty how Nazism penetrated the schools and universities.
I fear that the hypocrasy of this decision is only outshone by the legal sterility of same.
To say that I am disapointed would be understatement.
On the other hand, the ray of light in the darkness is the publicity for intelligent discourse and new and old ideas that this challenge gave to the truth. Even in the midst of darkness there is always hope; for two thousand years ago a child was born in Bethlehem, and His name was Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world...