Friday, December 16, 2005
It's Just a Theory
In making his ruling, last January, that Cobb County school officials must remove stickers asserting that evolution is a theory, not a fact, Judge Cooper noted:
That goes straight to the question of the board's motivation in placing the stickers on biology textbooks there.
Here's what the textbook disclaimer sticker says:
Judge Ed Carnes, who reportedly dominated the hearing yesterday, rarely allowing the attorney for the parents to complete a sentence, was seemingly unaware of this tactic, saying the three-sentence disclaimer seemed to him to be "literally accurate."
The Court's review of pertinent law review articles affirms that encouraging the teaching of evolution as a theory rather than as a fact is one of the latest strategies to dilute evolution instruction employed by antievolutionists with religious motivations.
That goes straight to the question of the board's motivation in placing the stickers on biology textbooks there.
Here's what the textbook disclaimer sticker says:
"This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."
Judge Ed Carnes, who reportedly dominated the hearing yesterday, rarely allowing the attorney for the parents to complete a sentence, was seemingly unaware of this tactic, saying the three-sentence disclaimer seemed to him to be "literally accurate."
"I don't think y'all can contest any of the sentences," he told a lawyer who argued the case for parents who filed suit against the stickers. Carnes, an appointee of the elder President George Bush, said he was hard-pressed to see how a finding could be made that the sticker is an endorsement of religion.
