The American Civil Liberties Union and the Americans United for Separation of Church and State are jointly suing a Pennsylvania school district for planning changes in its evolution curriculum.
Dover Area School District near Harrisburg, Penn., does not intend to eliminate Darwin’s theory of evolution. Instead it plans to include an alternative theory called “Intelligent Design Theory” into its course load.
The lawsuit is the first to challenge this theory, which does not necessarily advocate one creator, but rather says that evidence suggests life on Earth was created by an intelligent agent or agents and that an intelligent designer is the only way to fully explain the complexity and diversity of life. The Intelligent Design Theory does not state that naturalistic causes are enough to explain evolution.
The ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State are mistaken in their judgment. The ACLU, which prides itself on protecting American liberties, is trying to strip them from our public institutions.
In a Reuter’s article that appeared on CNN’s Web site, the legal director of the ACLU in Pennsylvania, Witold Walczak, said that since this is the first case about the theory, it is very significant. Then he added: “If we lose, we really fear that you will see school districts all across the country teaching Intelligent Design.”
What is wrong with that?
It’s not that Walczak is afraid of the theory. It’s the idea of a god or an intelligent designer that scares him. And even worse-that the theory is at least as scientifically credible, if not more, than Darwin’s theory of evolution.
The Intelligent Design Theory does not advocate a singular god, or even a god per se. So on what basis does the ACLU believe it needs to protect children from learning about it?
Science has no bounds and the possibilities should not be stifled. An education is more than regurgitating facts from a textbook. It involves teaching America’s youth to think and to let them explore options. Who is the ACLU to tell our youth what to think?
In the 1920s, a biology teacher in Tennessee named John Scopes was tried for teaching the theory of evolution in his classroom, which was illegal in Tennessee. The question the Tennessee Supreme Court failed to address was whether the government could use schools to censor science in favor of religion. There is a problem with that. However, in this case, the ACLU has problems with teaching theories besides evolution. If that does not stifle creativity and imagination, I don’t know what else does.
The Dover Area School District and every other district in the country should include all scientific theories in their curriculums that have scientific credibility, and not just the ones of which the ACLU and its friends approve. The Intelligent Design Theory has a scientific, not religious, basis.
Introducing the Intelligent Design Theory into our classrooms does not violate the premise of separation of church and state. The Constitution says that Congress shall make no law “respecting the establishment of religion.” Intelligent Design Theory does not advocate a specific religion and teaching it in public schools would not violate that constitutional doctrine.
In the ’80s, the U.S. Supreme Court prohibited Louisiana schools from teaching creationism in Edwards v. Aguillard, not because creationism had no merit, but because a Louisiana statute prohibited teaching evolution in public elementary and middle school unless a creationist form was also taught. That, the court ruled, pushed a religious idea. The statute, not the teaching of alternatives to evolution, was declared illegal.
But in its majority opinion, the court held that teachers could teach any theory based on fact. So a seemingly religious theory could be taught if it showed substantial validity to its claim and was taught without religious persuasion. The court wrote: “Teaching a variety of scientific theories about the origins of humankind to schoolchildren might be validly done with the clear secular intent of enhancing the effectiveness of science instruction.”
In fact, by limiting theories of creation to Darwin and the Big Bang Theory, the ACLU is saying that it supports any religion that is anti-creator or anything that completely removes religion from life. That’s a religion called atheism.
Ultimately it is the students’ choice whether to believe any theory. Let people chew on ideas. Every theory, per se, has its flaws, including Darwin’s theory. Why not look at all the theories with their flaws instead of just one?
The Dover Area School District has hit the nail on the head. It is not teaching religious beliefs; it is teaching valid scientific theory.
Pam McTeer is a senior communication major. She can be reached at [email protected].