Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Riding the Theory Horse Into the Ground
The York Daily Record reports that during cross examination of biologist Ken Miller yesterday, Robert Muise, an attorney with the Thomas More Law Center, which is representing the Dover School Board, asked Miller, “Is it not true evolution is a theory not fact?”
This theory versus fact mumbo jumbo may have been very good public relations, but is it brilliant law?
In a ruling handed down last January by Judge Clarence Cooper in the Cobb County, Georgia evolution disclaimer sticker case. Judge Cooper ordered the removal of evolution disclaimer stickers from textbooks there writing:
"... the distinction of evolution as a theory rather than a fact is the distinction that religiously motivated individuals have specifically asked school boards to make in the most recent anti-evolution movement, and that was exactly what parents in Cobb County did in this case. By adopting this specific language, even if at the direction of counsel, the County School Board appears to have sided with these religiously motivated individuals... "
This theory versus fact mumbo jumbo may have been very good public relations, but is it brilliant law?
In a ruling handed down last January by Judge Clarence Cooper in the Cobb County, Georgia evolution disclaimer sticker case. Judge Cooper ordered the removal of evolution disclaimer stickers from textbooks there writing:
"... the distinction of evolution as a theory rather than a fact is the distinction that religiously motivated individuals have specifically asked school boards to make in the most recent anti-evolution movement, and that was exactly what parents in Cobb County did in this case. By adopting this specific language, even if at the direction of counsel, the County School Board appears to have sided with these religiously motivated individuals... "
