[Vision2020] Too bad were not intelligent in the Moscow School District.

[Mark Solomon]

See 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/toles_main.html?name 
for another view on this story.

Mark Solomon

At 5:49 PM -0400 9/27/05, heirdoug at netscape.net wrote:
>More intolerista's on the march - but not in Moscow...
>
>-----------------------------------
>ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
>'Intelligent design' lawsuit vs. school district goes to trial
>
>September 27, 2005
>
>HARRISBURG, Pa. - A school district is undermining science education 
>by raising false doubts about evolution and offering "intelligent 
>design" as an alternative explanation for life's origins, a 
>biologist testified at the start of a landmark trial.
>
>"It's the first movement to try to drive a wedge between students 
>and the scientific process," said Brown University's Kenneth Miller, 
>the first witness called yesterday by lawyers for eight families 
>suing the Dover Area School District.
>
>The district is believed to be the nation's first school system to 
>require that students be exposed to the intelligent-design concept.
>
>The policy requires school administrators to read a statement before 
>classes on evolution that says Charles Darwin's theory is "not a 
>fact" and has inexplicable "gaps." It refers students to an 
>intelligent-design textbook for more information.
>
>Intelligent design holds that Darwin's theory of natural selection 
>over time cannot fully explain the origin of life or the emergence 
>of highly complex life forms. It implies that life on Earth is the 
>product of an unidentified, intelligent force.
>
>The eight families say the district policy in effect promotes the 
>Bible's view of creation, violating the constitutional separation of 
>church and state.
>
>But the rural school district of about 3,500 students argues that it 
>isn't endorsing any religious view and is merely giving ninth-grade 
>biology classes a glimpse of differences over evolution.
>
>"This case is about free inquiry in education, not about a religious 
>agenda," said Patrick Gillen of the Thomas More Law Center in Ann 
>Arbor, Mich., in his opening statement. The center, which lobbies 
>for what it sees as the religious freedom of Christians, is 
>defending the school district.
>
>"Dover's modest curriculum change embodies the essence of liberal 
>education," Gillen said.
>
>The nonjury trial before U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III is 
>expected to take five weeks.
>
>
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