The “intelligent-design” creationism case is underway in Dover, Pa., with several parents and teachers testifying yesterday that there was an atmosphere of “intimidation and anger” when the community’s school board members voted last year to require biology teachers to read a statement in class that casts doubt on the theory of evolution.
While the classroom guidelines are obviously the central point of this lawsuit, how local officials went about passing this policy matters. If, for example, plaintiffs can demonstrate that ID proponents were driven by a religious agenda, then it’ll be that much easier to win the case.
Fortunately, when shaping the policy, school board members were careless about their motivations. School board member and ID-advocate Allan Bonsell, who owns an auto repair business and has no background in science, told Bryan Rehm, a former physics teacher at Dover High School and the parent of a ninth-grader there, that modern biology is “against his religious views” and that Bonsell particularly was concerned about the idea of “monkeys to man.”
In an interesting development, however, it’s going to difficult to prove this. You’ll never guess why.
Sworn testimony as well as two newspaper accounts note that Bonsell and other board members dismissed the separation of church and state as a myth, and initially favored equally teaching creationism and evolution. Bonsell and the board members have denied making these statements or have said they were misquoted. The board meetings were taped, but the tapes apparently were destroyed. (emphasis added)
How terribly convenient. A room full of local parents, including at least two journalists, heard school board members admit to a religious bias and a desire to advance creationism. The remarks were recorded and could have made this lawsuit a no-brainer.
But this key piece of evidence was “apparently destroyed.” It seems like a little detail that needs some follow-up. Destroyed by whom? How? When?