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In the weeks after a federal judge ruled Dover's intelligent design policy was unconstitutional, supporters of the concept spent much time pointing out that the court decision had no legal standing outside the school district. Even so, other school boards across the country are heeding the words of U.S. Judge John E. Jones III, who wrote that, "To be sure, Darwin's theory of evolution is imperfect. However, the fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion into the science...

The recent ruling in Dover, Pa., against the mention of intelligent design in biology textbooks was a small cultural victory for science - not because intelligent design posed a genuine threat to the theory of evolution, but because the decision showed the public that there is an important difference between science and pseudoscience. In the wake of the trial, scientists are being criticized, even by their own colleagues, for working on anything that might be construed as pseudoscience - and string theory is drawing most of the heat. An intense controversy has erupted regarding the status of this potential "theory...

Advocates of “intelligent design” are gearing up their fight to teach the controversial theory now that U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III has ruled that the religious-based explanation for the formation of the universe and human evolution may not be taught in Pennsylvania public schools. The debate over intelligent design is important, because at root is the idea of "certainty" and the method by which scientific truths are established. Proponents of teaching intelligent design in the public schools argue that evolution is a “theory” and ask why shouldn’t their theory be allowed equal time in a science class. The...

PARIS (Reuters) - The Roman Catholic Church has restated its support for evolution with an article praising a U.S. court decision that rejects the "intelligent design" theory as non-scientific. The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said that teaching intelligent design -- which argues that life is so complex that it needed a supernatural creator -- alongside Darwin's theory of evolution would only cause confusion... A court in the state of Pennsylvania last month barred a school from teaching intelligent design (ID), a blow to Christian conservatives who want it to be taught in biology classes along with the Darwinism they oppose.

A few thoughts regarding the recent foolishness in the courts of Pennsylvania over Intelligent Design: A pertinent question is why the curricula of the schools should be the concern of judges, who are little more than the enforcement arm of the academic and journalistic elites, imposing on Kansas what could not be legislated in Washington. I see no evidence that judges deploy intelligence, knowledge, or any other qualification other than boundless belief in their unlimited jurisdiction. Another question is precisely what is meant by Intelligent Design. The answer is not easily divined by reading newspapers: The press have many virtues,...

This week, the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District opened in federal court. The ACLU is suing the school board of Dover, Pennsylvania for adopting a policy which requires that teachers read to students a three-paragraph statement about the theory of intelligent design. In his opening statement, Eric Rothschild, the attorney for Kitzmiller, argued against the legitimacy of intelligent design (ID). Unfortunately for Rothschild, the testimony of Kenneth Miller–a Roman Catholic biology professor from Brown University who staunchly defends evolution—has already refuted his argument. And even more unfortunately, Miller was his expert witness. Early in his testimony, Rothschild...

If there’s anything to be learned from the intelligent design debate, it’s that branding “activist judges” is the hobby of bitter losers. For those who care about the fight over evolution in biology classrooms, Christmas came five days early when the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District ruling was handed down. In his decision, Judge John E. Jones III ruled that not only is the theory of intelligent design religion poorly dressed in science language, teaching it in class is an outright violation of the First Amendment. The ruling was a concise and devastating demonstration of how law, precedent and...

(AgapePress) - A pro-family attorney is expressing dismay over a Pennsylvania school board's decision to drop a science policy that generated widespread controversy and national media attention. The newly elected Dover Area School Board has voted unanimously to rescind a policy designed to inform students that the theory of intelligent design, or ID, is an alternative to Darwin's theory of evolution.Last month a federal judge declared the Dover Area School District's policy unconstitutional, saying it violated the Establishment Clause, or separation of church and state. Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, says the...

The Dover Area School District might learn as early as next week how much it owes in legal fees for its losing court battle over intelligent design. Those fees will exceed $1 million, said Witold Walczak, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the organizations that represented 11 Dover parents who successfully sued the district to have the intelligent design policy rescinded. Walczak and another lawyer involved in the case said they were uncertain whether the fees would approach $2 million. He said the total could be known as early as next week or by the end...

Pa. School Board to Vote on Evolution 21 minutes ago Dover's foundering school policy of presenting "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution was headed for the history books Tuesday night. Two weeks after a federal judge ruled the concept was religious and not scientific, the Dover Area School Board's newly elected members planned to formally rescind the policy. The policy, approved in October 2004, required students be read a statement about "intelligent design" before ninth-grade lessons on evolution. The statement said Darwin's theory is "not a fact" and has inexplicable "gaps," and referred students to an intelligent-design book. On...

By MARTHA RAFFAELE Associated Press Writer DOVER, Pa. (AP) -- The Dover school board on Tuesday rescinded its policy of presenting "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution in high school biology classes, two weeks after a federal judge found the concept was religious and not scientific. There was no discussion by members of the Dover Area School Board before the voice vote Tuesday night. The policy, approved in October 2004, required that a statement be read to students about "intelligent design" before ninth-grade lessons on evolution. The statement said Darwin's theory is "not a fact" and has inexplicable "gaps."...

Also today, Dover's board might revoke the controversial intelligent design decision. Now that the issue of teaching "intelligent design" in Dover schools appears to be played out, the doings of the Dover Area School Board might hold little interest for the rest of the world. But the people who happen to live in that district find them to be of great consequence. Or so board member James Cashman is finding in his final days of campaigning before Tuesday's special election, during which he will try to retain his seat on the board. Even though the issue that put the Dover...

Note: This is the fourth part of a multi-part series. You can read the first three installments here and here and here. Some in the newsmedia have been attempting to portray Judge Jones as a conservative Republican who is devoutly religious. Frankly, I don't care whether Judge Jones is either conservative or religious. My concern is whether he is fair and accurate as a judge. But I do object to the media's transparent attempt to reinvent Judge Jones in order to supply a veneer of credibility to his incredibly biased decision. The media are cultivating the impression that Judge...

Note: This is the second part of a multi-part series. You can read the first installment here. It's becoming glaringly apparent that Judge Jones was incredibly sloppy with the purported findings of "facts" in his lengthy 139-page judicial opinion. Time and again, Judge Jones makes assertions in his opinion that are unambiguously factually wrong--even though the correct information was a part of the official record before him. It is beginning to look like he didn't even bother to read or consider the information and arguments submitted by the side he disagreed with. Here are some of the more egregious examples....

The court and both parties in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District battled about whether intelligent design was science or religion. None of them showed any interest in the right answer – a little (or a lot) of both. The experts who testified in favor of ID insisted that, as far as their theory went, the intelligent designer might be someone other than God. But come on. If you discovered the intelligent designer of every life form on the planet (including you), what would you call him? Probably not Uncle Zeke. The Dover court is wrong, however, when it says...

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh weighed in on the Dover intelligent design trial yesterday, rightly characterizing the opinion of Judge John E. Jones III as aggressive judicial overreach. But Limbaugh also suggested that design theorists appeared disingenious in drawing a sharp distinction between creationism and intelligent design. Since newspapers routinely mangle our position on this matter, it's little wonder. Traditional creationism begins with the Bible and moves from there to science. Intelligent design begins and ends with science. It has larger metaphysical implications, but so does Darwinism. The theory of intelligent design is a methodology for detecting design, and...

If there is such a thing as home-field advantage in a courtroom, intelligent design should have carried the day in the Dover evolution trial. Advocates of ID had the support of the local school board, a case presented by experienced lawyers from the Thomas More Legal Foundation, expert witnesses with scientific credentials, and a conservative judge appointed by President George W. Bush. That judge gave them all the time they wanted to lay out the scientific case for ID. And lay it out they did.But that was exactly the problem.In the harsh light of the courtroom, ID shriveled and died....

The verdict [PH here: the journalist means "judgment"] rendered in the Dover case has been echoing around on news and commentary sites for several days now, and a few themes are emerging. Many are upset about the scope of the legal arguments, and there's a smattering of complaints about the social implications. From a science point of view, the interesting thing about the case was that it was the first time that the relative merits of intelligent design (ID) and evolutionary theory were put before a dispassionate observer, who was tasked with evaluting them. Experts, including the most prominent pro-ID...

The following press release has angered some ID supporters. It's amazing that some ID "guys," after taking so much from Darwin Fundies, can't take criticism from within their own camp. Isn't this one of the ID supporters' complaints against evolutionists? That they ignore criticisms? While ID has accomplished a great deal in showing the flaws with evolution and how to detect design, they have put little emphasis on creating a testable model. In the past they ignored RTB because it’s “too religious.” Now they are mad because RTB has raised the scientific bar. Give me a break. **** Creation Scientists...

December 21, 2005 The Dover Intelligent Design Decision, Part I: Of Motive, Effect, and History Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District forbids a local school board “from requiring teachers to refer to a religious, alternative theory known as ID.” The first amendment makes intelligent design unmentionable in the classroom. While professing to offer no opinion concerning the truth of intelligent design, the court consistently reveals its contempt for this theory. Most of the Dover opinion says in effect to the proponents of intelligent design, “We know who you are. You’re Bible-thumpers.” The opinion begins, “The religious movement known as Fundamentalism...

God, Darwinism, Intelligent Design and Secular Humanists. My humble opinion: The Theory of Evolution is just that - A Theory. The Theory of Intelligent Design is just that - A Theory. Both theories have some facts that support them - and other facts that don't support them. It used to be that places of higher learning taught students to think for themselves based on scientific facts and evidence. But what "facts" support intelligent design? 1. Evolution doesn't explain anything on how it all began. As a theory, it is grossly incomplete. At least intelligent design has a theory on the...

Issuing theological statements isn't normally thought of as the job of a federal judge. Yet, this week when U.S. District Court Judge John E. Jones III released the first federal ruling on intelligent design, there was at the core of his written decision an unambiguously theological ruling: that evolution as formulated by Charles Darwin presents no conflict with the God of the Bible. Quite apart from what one thinks of his legal decision, what should we make of his theology? In brief, Jones ruled that disparaging Darwinian evolutionary theory in biology class violates the separation of church and state. The...

[subhead: He denies he is contradicting earlier statements of support for the cause.] Early this year, Sen. Rick Santorum commended the Dover Area School District for "attempting to teach the controversy of evolution."But one day after a federal judge ruled that the district's policy on intelligent design was unconstitutional, Santorum said he was troubled by court testimony that showed some board members were motivated by religion in adopting the policy.And, he said in an interview, he disagreed with the board for mandating the teaching of [ID], rather than just the controversy surrounding evolution.Santorum - who sits on the advisory board...

Competing Designs Tuesday's ruling by a federal judge in Pennsylvania, disparaging intelligent design as a religion-based and therefore false science, raises an important question: If ID is bogus because many of its theorists have religious beliefs to which the controversial critique of Darwinism lends support, then what should we say about Darwinism itself? After all, many proponents of Darwinian evolution have philosophical beliefs to which Darwin lends support. "We conclude that the religious nature of Intelligent Design would be readily apparent to an objective observer, adult or child," wrote Judge John E. Jones III in his decision, Kitzmiller v. Dover,...

Tuesday's ruling by a federal judge in Pennsylvania, disparaging intelligent design as a religion-based and therefore false science, raises an important question: If ID is bogus because many of its theorists have religious beliefs to which the controversial critique of Darwinism lends support, then what should we say about Darwinism itself? After all, many proponents of Darwinian evolution have philosophical beliefs to which Darwin lends support."We conclude that the religious nature of Intelligent Design would be readily apparent to an objective observer, adult or child," wrote Judge John E. Jones III in his decision, Kitzmiller v. Dover, which rules that...

Judge Jones Follows ACLU, Ignores Contrary Facts CSC Senior Fellow David K. DeWolf has provided us this first, short analysis of yesterday's decision in the Dover School Board case. DeWolf is a professor of law at Gonzaga University and the author of a briefing book for public school administrators, Teaching the Controversy: Darwinism, Design and the Public School Curriculum. In his opinion in the Kitzmiller case, Judge Jones accepted virtually every argument made by the ACLU. To be fair, the ACLU did present testimony supporting the plaintiffs' claim that the school board had acted for religious motives in adopting the...

Although proponents of Intelligent Design (ID) have received a setback in this week’s Dover, PA decision, I do not believe that the world-is-flat defenders of Darwinism can continue for long keeping people from discussing the possibility that the world is actually a globe that revolves around the sun. Future discoveries may show ID proponents to be wrong, but inquisition should have died with Galileo. Darwin’s theory that life began from a confluence of accidental events and evolved over eons into many thousands of life forms, including man, through a series of random mutations that were passed on through inheritance (if...

SEATTLE — "The Dover decision is an attempt by an activist federal judge to stop the spread of a scientific idea and even to prevent criticism of Darwinian evolution through government-imposed censorship rather than open debate, and it won't work," said Dr. John West, Associate Director of the Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute, the nation's leading think tank researching the scientific theory known as intelligent design. “He has conflated Discovery Institute’s position with that of the Dover school board, and he totally misrepresents intelligent design and the motivations of the scientists who research it.” “A legal ruling...

I cannot say I am surprised by the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District ruling handed down by U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III, but as always, surprised how such cases are so easily seen as a federal issue. The ruling as usual is void of facts and relies on previous unsupported court myths (called precedent). The usual propaganda is repeated such as: It is contended that the ID [Intelligent Design] Policy constitutes an establishment of religion prohibited by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment...The prohibition...

"This is a victory beyond our wildest dreams," said Witold Walczak, legal director for the ACLU-Pennsylvania. "The judge ruled that board members had a religious purpose, and he ruled on the larger questions of intelligent design. He analyzed the alleged science behind intelligent design and found there was none." A victory for the ACLU beyond their wildest dreams? You know that's not good. What is this victory? It's not about evolution vs some other idea, it is that the ACLU has now got a federal court to decree what is religion and what is science. The judge may be 100%...

John Edward Jones III is a Republican, Jones was appointed by President George W. Bush as federal judge on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in February 2002 and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on July 30, 2002. Previously ran for Congress in 6th district of PA.

A federal judge has ruled that teaching intelligent design in US public high schools is unconstitutional. On 20 December, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Judge John Jones issued a scathing opinion in which he described a local school board's efforts to promote intelligent design as "breathtaking inanity". Last year, the school board of the nearby town of Dover voted to have a statement read in ninth-grade biology classes, mentioning gaps in the theory of evolution and recommending a textbook, Of Pandas and People, that teaches intelligent design. Intelligent design is the belief that today's organisms are not the product of natural selection...

One of biggest paradigm shifts in origins in recent years is when genetics and morphological studies began to show that Neanderthals and humans weren’t related. Sure, a lot of Darwin Fundies around here don’t know that because they get all of their science from the talking point lists of their Fundamentalist Leaders. So this is probably a big shock too, science is also showing that man is not related to any hominids including apes. In the groundbreaking book, Who was Adam?, biochemist Fazale Rana examines the scientific research that is overturning Darwinian Fundamentalism. Here, using peer-reviewed research that the Darwin...

Judge Jones in his ruling yesterday took the route of upholding precedent. He's the latest in a long string of judges who have made reference to the 20th Century flat earth concept of "separation of church and state." The modern perversion of the U.S. Constitution began with Supreme Court Justice Hugo 'KKK' Black's ruling against public support of Catholic schools in 1947. I guess one can say this is what makes a Republican appointed judge like Jones different from the Democrat ones. Liberal judges defy the law and try to change it in our face like ruling the Pledge of...

December 20, 2005 Dover Must Change Evolution Policy within 40M Years by Scott Ott (2005-12-20) — In the biggest evolution case since the Scopes Monkey trial of 1925, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III today ruled that the so-called Intelligent Design theory of origins is not science, and that a Pennsylvania school district may not offer it to students as an alternative to Darwinian evolution. The judge ordered the Dover Area School District to alter its current science policy to reflect his ruling (PDF), and he set a limit of 40 million years for implementation of the change. “My...

Driving home one day last December from the courthouse in Harrisburg, Pa., Judge John E. Jones III tuned in to a radio news report about 11 parents in the nearby town of Dover who had filed a lawsuit challenging their school board's decision to include intelligent design in the high school biology curriculum. "It piqued my curiosity," the judge said. Not only was the suit likely to be the nation's first full hearing on the legal merits of teaching intelligent design, but it also had been filed in the federal court in Pennsylvania where he was serving. "Any judge will...

HARRISBURG, Pa. - "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. The Dover Area School Board violated the Constitution when it ordered that its biology curriculum must include "intelligent design," the notion that life on Earth was produced by an unidentified intelligent cause, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III ruled Tuesday.

Fox News alert a few minutes ago says the Dover School Board lost their bid to have Intelligent Design introduced into high school biology classes. The federal judge ruled that their case was based on the premise that Darwin's Theory of Evolution was incompatible with religion, and that this premise is false.

SEATTLE — "The Dover decision is an attempt by an activist federal judge to stop the spread of a scientific idea and even to prevent criticism of Darwinian evolution through government-imposed censorship rather than open debate, and it won't work," said Dr. John West, Associate Director of the Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute, the nation's leading think tank researching the scientific theory known as intelligent design. “He has conflated Discovery Institute’s position with that of the Dover school board, and he totally misrepresents intelligent design and the motivations of the scientists who research it.” “A legal ruling...

Many evangelicals were shocked last June when Dr. Albert Mohler, the Southern Baptist Convention's leading theologian, wrote that it's now time for responsible Southern Baptists to develop an exit strategy from the public schools. But why should it have been shocking?

SEATTLE — "The Dover decision is an attempt by an activist federal judge to stop the spread of a scientific idea and even to prevent criticism of Darwinian evolution through government-imposed censorship rather than open debate, and it won't work," said Dr. John West, Associate Director of the Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute, the nation's leading think tank researching the scientific theory known as intelligent design. “He has conflated Discovery Institute’s position with that of the Dover school board, and he totally misrepresents intelligent and the motivations of the scientists who research it.” “A legal ruling can't...

This is an excerpt (a long excerpt) from the "PLAINTIFFS’ FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW" which were submitted to the court in the Dover trial on Intelligent Design. Here is a link to the documents filed with the court. The document excerpted here is #334. The defendant School Board's proposed findings are in item 335. All references within the numbered paragraphs are to the transcripts of witness testimony, or to documents and other evidence. We begin with the first part of the table of contents, and it's probably formatted badly. The entire document is 161 pages long, and...

Charles Krauthammer's syndicated essay against intelligent design ran opposite mine in today's Seattle Times. The piece is full of problems, which Tom Gilson and Lawrence Seldon explore in loving detail here and here. Now I would have framed a couple of points in their otherwise fine analysis a little differently. In one place, Gilson describes agnostic David Berlinski as an ID proponent. It would be more precise to call Berlinski a Darwin skeptic and friendly critic of design theory. Also, Seldon writes that Krauthammer "rants about Dover and Kansas ... writing out of ignorance and knocking down a straw man."...

MR. GILLEN: All right. Good afternoon, Your Honor. I want to echo the sentiments of everyone who has appeared in these proceedings and thank you for your cordiality, your respect for the lawyers who appeared before you, and that of your staff. I would also compliment my opposing counsel and, of course, my colleagues. That said, I'd like to address the argument of plaintiffs' counsel. And I think that for all the magnificent vista of science and religious liberty that he has discussed in detail, what is missing is due attention to the facts of this matter. Because as I...

Residents have said they just want this election to be over, similar to the sentiment of many Americans after the 2000 presidential election. But in the Dover Area School District, Tuesday's election is a bit more complicated. There are no "hanging chads," but York County election officials are inspecting a faulty voting machine at Friendship Community Church on Fox Run Road that counted only one vote for incumbent school board candidate James Cashman. John Scott, York County director of elections, said this morning that officials are looking into it, but declined further comment. "There's obviously something wrong," Cashman said yesterday....

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town Thursday that disaster may strike there because they "voted God out of your city" by ousting school board members who favored teaching intelligent design. All eight Dover, Pa., school board members up for re-election were defeated Tuesday after trying to introduce "intelligent design" - the belief that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power - as an alternative to the theory of evolution. "I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is...

DOVER, Pa. -- Pat Robertson had a special message for residents of Dover, Pa., today after voters there elected to boot the current school board, which instituted an intelligent design policy that led to a federal trial. Robertson made the comment after Lee Webb of CBN News delivered a report on how residents in Dover voted in eight new Democratic board members, replacing all eight current members who had voted for a policy that required students in ninth-grade biology classes to hear a statement on intelligent design before hearing lessons on evolution. Webb then asked Robertson what he thought about...

For the past six weeks, the debate over evolution and intelligent design has played out in a Pennsylvania courtroom. Today, Kansas gets the national spotlight back — and with it, the possibility of a federal lawsuit here. “What’s going on in Kansas,” said Kenneth Miller, a Brown University biologist, “is much more radical and much more dangerous to science education” than the contested decision in Dover, Pa., to mandate the teaching of “intelligent design” in public school science classes. Intelligent design speculates that the world is too complex to have evolved without the help of an unknown designer — an...

Intelligent design is a topic that Shawn and Brett Slothower avoid in their Dover Township home...The Dover school board race is one of the hottest election races this fall and officals expect polls to be busy in the northwestern area of York County...Voters say intelligent design is not the only issue. Teachers have been working without a contract...

The eight members of the Dover School Board are working hard for re-election..These candidates are determined to set the record straight....