CNN: “Judge rules against ‘intelligent design’ in science class”
The Dover Area School District in Pennsylvania had sought to become the first to require science teachers to teach Intelligent Design (”ID”) alongside the theory of evolution in science class. According to the article, “Intelligent design claims the complexity of some systems of nature cannot be explained by evolution but must be attributed to a designer or supernatural being.”
In ruling against the school district, U.S. District Judge John Jones objected to the second part of that description, that the complexity of some systems of nature must be attributed to a designer or supernatural being. Judge Jones called ID an “untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion . . .” During the trial, scientific experts apparently testified “that Darwin’s theory ‘in no way conflicts with, nor does it deny, the existence of a divine creator.’”
Preemptively dismissing criticisms that the decision came from an activist judge, Judge Jones, a Bush appointee, said:
Rather, this case came to us as the result of the activism of an ill-informed faction on a school board, aided by a national public interest law firm eager to find a constitutional test case on intelligent design, who in combination drove the board to adopt an imprudent and ultimately unconstitutional policy.
The decision applies only to the Dover Area School District, and is appealable to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
