Posted on 01/17/2006 11:24:31 AM PST by PatrickHenry
A rural school district agreed to stop teaching a religion-based alternative to evolution as part of a court settlement filed Tuesday, a legal group said.
Frazier Mountain High School will stop teaching a philosophy class discussing the theory of "intelligent design" this week and won't teach it in the future, said Ayesha N. Khan, legal director for Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Officials at the El Tejon Unified School District were not immediately available for comment.
A federal judge in Fresno had been scheduled to hold a hearing Tuesday afternoon on whether to halt the class midway through the monthlong winter term.
A group of parents sued the district last week, saying it violated the constitutional separation of church and state by offering "Philosophy of Design," a course taught by a minister's wife that advanced the theory that life is so complex it must have been created by God.
"The course was designed to advance religious theories on the origins of life, including creationism and its offshoot, 'intelligent design,'" said the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.
In a landmark lawsuit, Americans United for Separation of Church and State had successfully blocked Dover, Pa., schools last month from teaching intelligent design in science courses. [Kitzmiller et al. v Dover Area School District et al..]
El Tejon school officials had claimed the subject was proper for a philosophy class.
The high school in the Tehachapi Mountains about 75 miles north of Los Angeles draws 500 students from a dozen small communities.
Sharon Lemburg, a social studies teacher and soccer coach who was teaching "Philosophy of Design," defended the course in a letter to the weekly Mountain Enterprise.
"I believe this is the class that the Lord wanted me to teach," she wrote.
Similar battles are being fought in Georgia and Kansas. Critics of "intelligent design" say it is biblical creationism in disguise, but defenders argue it is based on science and doesn't require adherence to any religious belief.
LOL Now *that* was a funny post.
which one....??
"These decisions" are made by the Constitution of the United States.
You have a problem with that, take it up with Madison and Hamilton.
The word is presuming.
Did they ban Christianity too?
" Did they ban Christianity too?"
Too? Who banned Christianity?
Who has banned Christianity here?
"Philosophy classes have no place in high school anyway."
Yup. Once they get all the kids in high school reading at an appropriate grade level, performing at grade level in math, and able to write a coherent term paper, then philosophy classes might make sense.
Teach them to read, write, and do math. Then we'll talk about other stuff. I'm not optimistic.
My niece used to teach at that school. She said that it was a real challenge, and that the kids weren't all that interested in learning. Now, she's out of teaching and working as an office manager.
I was referring to the attempts of the ACLU to keep it out of science, government and schools - Sorry for being flippant and unclear
The best solution to this dilemma is to stop funding public education. No government schools - problem solved - liberty restored.
I had never read that speech! Amazing.
Thank you for posting that link.
"Who has banned Christianity here?"
I was referring to the attempts of the ACLU to keep it out of science, government and schools - Sorry for being flippant and unclear
Careful - you make wild statements like that, it's hard to take your position seriously.
It isn't the ACLU trying to keep ID out of science, it's scientists.
Don't blame the ACLU, blame the crooks who know that trying to insert their own preferred religion into schools is un-Constitutional, but keep trying anyway.
"The best solution to this dilemma is to stop funding public education. No government schools - problem solved - liberty restored.
"
Silliness. That's not going to happen. You know it, I know it, and everyone else knows it.
The trouble with that kind of statement, since it's obviously not going to happen, is that people quit trying to fix those public schools that are broken. That's not all of them, by any means, but lots of them are.
Calling for the abolishment of public schools is a waste of time. It will not happen. Better to expend energy on getting our public schools back in order.
By the Constitution? Like abortion?
So is a presumption stronger than an assumption or vice versa?
As superintendent of DC schools required Issac Watts hymnal and the Bible be taught in all schools.
kinda gives context to your statement "the crooks who know that trying to insert their own preferred religion into schools is un-Constitutional,"
LOL.
Let me know when the authorities come for you for the crime of being a Christian.
I think not - Better to get your kids out! When we in great numbers take responsibility like that - then defunding the government schools will be a real possibility
"How is the abscence of theism a "religion", and why is it for nutballs?"
Because the "abscence of theism" requires that you truly honestly BELEIVE that no theism exist. And that in itself makes for nutballs not to be confuse with crackerjacks.
Come judgement day all this will be stettled.
Even these guys are liars. It wasn't a "philosophy class". It was a science class, because the ministers wife spent time teaching about what she believes are flaws in evolution. Evolution was specifically brought up in the class syllabus, and there's no relevant philosophy about it.
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