ID is DOA in Dover, PA

December 20, 2005

In the Scopes trial in 1925, creationists were thrilled to see John Scopes convicted. In what some have labeled “Scopes II,” opponents of modern science won’t be nearly as pleased.

A federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled today that a public school district in the central part of the state cannot require the inclusion of “intelligent design” in biology classes as an alternative to evolution.

U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III, issuing his decision in a case that was heard in the fall, ruled that the school board in Dover, Pa., violated the Constitution when it ordered high school biology teachers to read to students a short statement that cast doubt on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and offered intelligent design as an alternative theory on the origin and development of life.

While encouraging, this outcome was not entirely unexpected. School board members who promoted intelligent-design creationism were careless about their motivations when shaping the policy. 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.” When district attorneys had to argue that the anti-evolution lessons had a secular purpose, it was a tough, if not impossible, sell.

And before the right starts whining, I’d like to remind them that Judge Jones is a life-long Republican who was appointed to the federal bench in 2002 by George W. Bush.

Several ID advocates have said that the Dover case would be the first significant test for their brand of creationism. It looks like their strategies will need to evolve a little further before they can get into a classroom.

Gads read this some quotes from an article that pull from the ruling. OUCH.

“The citizens of the Dover area were poorly served by the members of the Board who voted for the ID Policy,” Jones wrote, calling the board’s decision “breathtaking inanity.”

“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,” he wrote.

…

“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.

…..

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.”

http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=6346

  • 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.”

    “Thou shall not bear false witness!”

    Kind of sad that these people will all be going to hell. 😎

  • A.Y.M., I think Bush is probably thankful that the creationist fundies are getting their heads handed to them by the judge in this case, as it will hopefully encourage them to STFU and stop making so much trouble for him and the Republican Party. Not that Bush would ever admit that, but his support of the Intelligent Design creationists was always half-hearted at best and he was generally silent on the matter.

  • David – I think you are right. He isn’t like them, he just like to use them. And in this case he can use them by expressing disappointment with the bonus have handing them a setback he didn’t have to executte but may have wished for because they were getting to big for their britches (closing Pandora’s box).

  • I think Bush is glad the ID folks were handed a resounding defeat, but for another reason. This ruling will feed overwhelming feelings of victimhood and “persecution” of Christians right-wingers. The GOP, American Family Council, Focus on the Family, Pat Robertson, etc., will continue to exploit this by screaming “ACTIVIST JUDGES” in their fundraising campaigns. And the ignorant and gullible will find themselves parted with their hard-earned cash.

    There is no “culture war” just one never-ending pledge drive for the right-wingers.

  • The part that got to me is that these people lied to further their agenda. I assume this was a civil case so I don’t know if they had to take an oath on the Bible to tell the truth.

    Regardless, the judge did the right thing by exposing them for the liars that they all are.

    Lying is the standard operating procedure for Bush and all his supporters.

  • Here’s what’s going to happen: As scientists become less intimidated by their peers and begin pointing out the gaping holes in Darwinism (whose proponents are more fundamentalist than fundamentalists), Intelligent Design will be allowed into more and more public schools. Evangelical Christians congratulate one another at what appears to be a major victory in the war against radical secularism.

    Then, in a stunning bit of educational ju jitsu, mainstream science, supported by the likes of Francis Crick (co-discoverer of DNA), will reveal that yes, there was an intelligent designer. And he looks like your stereotypical Grey.

    Erich Von Daniken and Zecharia Sitchin dance for joy as millions convert to their “ancient astronaut” theory and hail the return of the Anunnaki, while evangelical Christians remain on the sidelines, mouths open in stunned disbelief.

  • Here’s what impresses me about the ruling:

    ” 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.”

    Seems to me, he’s got it exactly right, without disparaging
    the notion of ID in the proper forum or context. After all, we
    don’t know, really, whether the laws governing the universe
    were designed, or just happened, nor do we have, at this
    time, any way of finding out. This should be a model for
    all subsequent cases, of which, hopefully there won’t be
    any. This is really slam dunk reasoning by Judge Jones.
    Thank God he’s a Republican appointee. Maybe there’s
    a few more of these guys on that side of the fence, who
    might be encouraged to speak out.

  • “If better explanations for the evidence arise, older explanations are left behind, which is the belief system upon which science is founded.”
    -from the Indiana Dept of Ed website

    BELIEF SYSTEM?! Scientific method is a freakin’ BELIEF SYSTEM?!

    So long as ‘educational systems’ make statements like that, we’re screwed. Decisions like Dover don’t mean a thing.
    It’s a miracle that I can read and write.
    Of course, we elected Mitch Daniels as Gov. As my Mama used to say, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
    Just my .02
    -curto

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