Tag: court

January 12, 2006

Unless people have followed the Ohio science standards adventure since the beginning, you might be thinking “What’s the big deal?”

The standards and lesson plan adopted in 2004 was a compromise between science supporters and those who support Intelligent Design (ID).

While the standards include a disclaimer that ID would not be required to be taught, the standards left open the door to non-science ideas to be presented.

The simple fact, reinforced by the Kitzmiller decision in Dover, PA this past December, shows that there is no legitimate alternative to Evolution. ID is just creationism with a different label and all the attempts to hide it has failed.

At the Ohio State Board of Education (OBE) meeting on January 10th, a vote was taken to reverse their 2004 decision and remove the lesson plan that reeks of ID. The vote failed by one vote.

A group of Ohio scientists and friends of science, Ohio Citizens for Science, who have been fighting the standards since day one now have a PDF document that notes the 23 links between the Ohio standards process and the court decision in Kitzmiller.

January 8, 2006

With the next Ohio State Board of Education (OBE) meeting just days away, opposition to a lesson plan adopted in 2004 , that gave the green light for teaching Intelligent Design, heats up.

Some on the Board don’t see the big deal. Americans United for the Separation of Chruch and State want to give them a reason to be concerned.

In the next post of….. Secular Left

December 21, 2005

On December 20, 2005, Judge John E. Jones III, In The United States District Court For The Middle District Of Pennsylvania, ruled that the Dover District School Board violated the US Constitution when they changed the 9th grade Biology curriculum to include Intelligent Design (ID).

Some of the members of the Board who voted for the change didn’t even know what ID was all about.

The Judge also took to task some members who lied under oath and tried to cover their tracks when the change caused some issues for the community.

December 20, 2005

Judge in Dover case rules in favor of the parents who wanted to keep ID out of their children’s classroom

“We find that the secular purposes claimed by the Board amount to a pretext for the Board’s real purpose, which was to promote religion in the public school classroom,” he wrote in his 139-page opinion.

Jones wrote that he wasn’t saying the intelligent design concept shouldn’t be studied and discussed, saying its advocates “have bona fide and deeply held beliefs which drive their scholarly endeavors.”

But, he wrote, “our conclusion today is that it is unconstitutional to teach ID as an alternative to evolution in a public school science classroom.”

More later —

November 2, 2005

Well it had to happen. As the trial in the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District comes to a close this week, the defendants are doing everything they can to save themselves from losing the case. This includes changing their testimony, selective memory, and the ever useful – attacking the media. The plaintiffs in the case also questioned the school board on their hiring of the Thomas More Law Center to represent them. The center states as one of their missions: Defending and promoting the religious freedom of Christians.

October 21, 2005

The cross examination of Behe highlights what is so wrong about Intelligent Design and the zeal of its supporters to get it wedged into school curriculums. They simply dismiss anything that doesn’t support their conclusions or they cry about being victims of politics.

Further on in testimony the discussion talked about one of the main charges ID’ers make against Evolution – that Evolution can’t be observed. ID’ers point out you can observe the “design”.

Michael Behe was asked if intelligent design is observable. Behe said it is. But when asked if he had witnessed newly designed structures appearing in the past five years. Behe said the designed structures that he’s written about are much older.