Posted on 01/19/2005 8:52:24 AM PST by FeeinTennessee
Pa. Students Learn 'Intelligent Design' By MARTHA RAFFAELE The Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. - High school students heard about "intelligent design" for the first time Tuesday in a school district that attracted national attention by requiring students to be made aware of it as an alternative to the theory of evolution.
Administrators in the Dover Area School District read a statement to three biology classes Tuesday and were expected to read it to other classes on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., which was speaking on the district's behalf.
The district is believed to be the only one in the nation to require students to hear about intelligent design - a concept that holds that the universe is so complex, it had to be created by an unspecified guiding force.
"The revolution in evolution has begun," said Richard Thompson, the law center's president and chief counsel. "This is the first step in which students will be given an honest scientific evaluation of the theory of evolution and its problems."
The case represents the newest chapter in a history of evolution lawsuits dating back to the Scopes Monkey Trial in Tennessee nearly 80 years ago. In Georgia, a suburban Atlanta school district plans to challenge a federal judge's order to remove stickers in science textbooks that call evolution "a theory, not a fact."
The law center is defending the Dover district against a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of eight families by two civil-liberties groups that alleged intelligent design is merely a secular variation of creationism, the biblical-based view that regards God as the creator of life. They maintain that the Dover district's curriculum mandate may violate the constitutional separation of church and state.
"Students who sat in the classroom were taught material which is religious in content, not scientific, and I think it's unfortunate that has occurred," said Eric Rothschild, a Philadelphia attorney representing the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit.
Biology teacher Jennifer Miller said although she was able to make a smooth transition to her evolution lesson after the statement was read, some students were upset that administrators would not entertain any questions about intelligent design.
"They were told that if you have any questions, to take it home," Miller said.
The district allowed students whose parents objected to the policy to be excused from hearing the statement at the beginning of class and science teachers who opposed the requirement to be exempted from reading the statement. About 15 of 170 ninth-graders asked to be excused from class, Thompson said.
A federal judge has scheduled a trial in the lawsuit for Sept. 26.
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Dover Area School District: http://www.dover.k12.pa.us
Thomas More Law Center: http://www.thomasmore.org
January 18, 2005 6:44 PM
You have been suckered, just as the greenies have been. By junk science, this time used by some folks who make their living taking money from religious believers.
This is the truly shocking statement in this article. In my high school, if there was ever a reason to leave class, even for a few minutes, you took it! What's wrong with these kids today?
Government schools have been teaching children about religion for a long time. It's called secular humanism. And, yes, according to the Supreme Court, that is a religion.
If you don't believe me it's all written in the Eddas for all to see.
Exactly
The fundamentalists are bigger fools than I took them for. All this does is open the door for competing moonbat religious belief to muscle its way in.
"unsupported"?
You're delusional.
What was your specific statistical problem with evolutionary theory?
Turtles all the way down?
No one want crub yopur beliefs. Discussion of them is also welcom in a theology or philosophy class
Attempting to undermine sound science with lies and misdirections and offering a religious viewpoint as a scientific one in a public school is what we are against.
That's already been proposed. The only problem is, where did the aliens come from, if it was impossible for evolution to occur anywhere?
On the contrary, I think the majority of the population has been "suckered" into buying a theory of origins that originated before the invention of the microscope - before we could actually SEE the infinite complexity of a single cell - until evolutionary theory can account for this level of complexity, I cannot in good conscience teach it as absolute truth. One theory of many, sure, but not the truth. How do we know that God didn't put us here? Or that He directed evolution to happen in His own way? Or that it really was aliens? The TRUTH is, we just don't know, and it is arrogant of us to pretend we have all the answers in this one flawed theory.
Which is why an atheistic ID argument would most likely be bootstrapping.
The problem is that ID is not a scientific theory, it's simply a belief.
Satan can't allow that. Watch the evilutionists come crawling out defending their unsupported theories.
More insulting, innacurate drivel from nmh.
Have of Chrisendom and 75% of Jews believ in evolution and see no conflict between it and creation by God. It is not just Athiests and in no Satanic plot.
Teach both and the third if it arises and can hold a half cup of water.
Darwin on Trial (by a non-religionist)is also an outstanding read.
Take a deep breath...
Relax...
Spell check...
Man, typing too fast.
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