God vs. science in schools debated in U.S. court

By Jon Hurdle

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (Reuters) – The lawsuit over
whether intelligent design should be taught in schools
alongside evolution began in federal court on Monday with
defendants’ attorneys calling it a scientific theory and
opponents saying it was an effort to put God in the classroom.

In the first such legal battle, lawyers sparred during
opening arguments at Federal District Court in Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, over whether the teaching of intelligent design
– an alternative to evolution that involves a God-like creator
– violates the U.S. Constitution.

The trial over teaching man’s origins in U.S. schools pits
Christian conservatives against teachers and scientists in what
is seen as the biggest test of the issue since the late 1980s.

“Intelligent design isn’t science. It’s old theology,” said
Eric Rothschild, lawyer for 11 parents who sued the Dover
school district of central Pennsylvania over including
intelligent design in its ninth-grade biology curriculum.

“It’s a clever tactical repackaging of creationism,” he
said, telling a packed courtroom that the U.S. Supreme Court
outlawed teaching creationism — the belief that God created
the world as told in Genesis — in public schools in 1987.

Pat Gillen, a lawyer for the Dover school district, said
intelligent design is anchored in science and is not
creationism in disguise. He also rejected the accusation that
it was unconstitutional to teach the theory to students.

“LIBERAL EDUCATION”

“They (the Dover students) are merely made aware of the
existence of another theory,” Gillen said, adding that teaching
intelligent design “helps students grasp the controversy that
surrounds science.”

Intelligent design says nature is so complex it must have
been the work of a God-like creator and not natural selection,
as argued by Charles Darwin in his 1859 Theory of Evolution.

Dover teachers are obliged to introduce their students to
intelligent design and explain it is an alternative to
evolution, but they do not delve into it in depth.

The courtroom drama over man’s origins is reminiscent of
the famous Scopes Monkey trial, when lawyers squared off in a
courthouse in Dayton, Tennessee, in 1925.

The school board says there are “gaps” in evolution, which
it emphasizes is a theory, not established fact, and that
students have a right to consider other views on the origins of
life. In their camp is President George W. Bush, who has said
schools should teach evolution and intelligent design.

Kenneth Miller, a Brown University professor of biology,
testified as a witness for the parents. He told the court that
teaching intelligent design does “a great disservice” to
students because it has been discredited by top scientific
groups such as the National Academy of Sciences and the
American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Teaching the theory leads students to believe that “science
isn’t to be relied upon,” Miller said, adding that it forces
them to make a false choice between God and science.

Miller told the court he is a practicing Roman Catholic who
has no trouble reconciling his religious faith with his
scientific acceptance of evolution. But he said the teaching
could prompt students to equate intelligent design with God and
science with atheism.

“It brings religious conflict into every science class in
Dover High,” he said.

Under cross examination, Miller conceded that evolution was
one of many scientific theories that are not fully explained by
science, saying, “No theory in science is ever regarded as an
absolute truth and evolution is no exception.”

Asked whether there were “gaps” in all scientific theories,
Miller responded, “If you define an unanswered question as a
gap, then that’s true.”

Richard Thompson of the Thomas More Law Center, which is
representing the school district, told reporters after
testimony ended that Miller’s arguments would be refuted point
by point by other scientists in the coming days.

“The legal debate isn’t about religion. It’s about whether
it’s good pedagogy to teach intelligent design,” he said.

At least 31 states are taking steps to teach alternatives
to evolution. A CBS poll last November found 65 percent of
Americans favor teaching creationism with evolution while 37
percent want creationism taught instead of evolution, and that
55 percent believe God created humans in their present form.