Re: School District drops Intelligent Design Class

[Steven Jamar]

I don't think is so hard to enforce.  Most people most of the time follow guidelines and this should be no different.  We should not ban something just because sometimes people stray across a fuzzy boundary inadvertently or just because some people will intentionally try to abuse the guidelines and further their own agendas. This desire for purity in this area baffles me.  It is not possible.  We ought not fail to do or allow something just because it can sometimes be abused.  And we ought not fail to teach something or allow something to be taught just because some people will be upset or draw the line differently. Steve On Jan 18, 2006, at 6:39 PM, Newsom Michael wrote: This is, of course, the central problem: how to enforce the distinction between teaching about religion and teaching religion.  Enforcement, it strikes me, is insuperably difficult.  How does one make sure that the teachers do not breach the line, and how does one make sure that the curriculum, or lesson plan does not breach the line?   I am not sure, therefore, that one can reasonably assume that teaching about religion will not become, in far too many cases, teaching religion.  Thus why should one favor teaching about religion in the public elementary and secondary schools at all? --  Prof. Steven D. Jamar                                     vox:  202-806-8017 Howard University School of Law                           fax:  202-806-8428 2900 Van Ness Street NW                            mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Washington, DC  20008           http://www.law.howard.edu/faculty/pages/jamar "A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used."  Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in Towne v. Eisner, 245 U.S. 418, 425 (1918)

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