I believe a case can be made that Prof. Barash, as he describes his lecture to his undergraduate classes, raises church-state constitutional issues. Whether the courts will (and should) agree is another matter, but there is a case to be made. It is, of course, clearly established by a number of court decisions that a public high school teachers may not introduce theological, religious concepts and beliefs into their science classrooms. On this basis, creation science, intelligent design and other attempts to introduce religious ideas or conclusions into science classes have been found to violate church-state First Amendment holdings.
Similarly, Prof. Barash, based on what he wrote in his NYT essay, is going beyond science and is introducing, in the guise of science, his personal value-laden conclusions and views on religion and God’s existence. He states that he conveys to his students that evolution has “undermined belief in an omnipotent and omni-benevolent God.” Later he writes that he insists to his students that one can only accept the both evolution and religion by “mental gymnastic routines.” These conclusions are not based on science, but are his personal views. He has left science behind and entered the world of philosophy, religion, and the humanities more broadly. On this basis, if Prof. Barash were a high school teacher, I believe there would be a clear church-state issue over what he does in his science classroom. The constitutional question comes down to whether or not the same interpretations the courts have applied to public secondary schools also apply to state universities. Prof. Barash has every right, of course, to his personal views and he has every right to express them in after-class sessions or in humanities classes. But, as Eric Treene asks, if he has a right to put forward his anti-religious views under the guise of science in an undergraduate classroom, would not deeply religious professors have a right to explain in their science classes how they see evolution and religion as being compatible? Would their doing raise constitutional issues? Others on this list will know better than I if in fact such cases have arisen. Stephen Monsma Senior Research Fellow The Henry Institute Calvin College ________________________________ From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu <religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu> on behalf of Eric Treene <etre...@comcast.net> Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 7:36 AM To: 'Law & Religion issues for Law Academics' Subject: RE: science professor lecture Marc also was asking about the flip side: what if a science professor dedicated a class every year to demonstrating why in his view the science points to intelligent design? And what if he further took the Genesis account of creation and explained how particulars of it lined up with the science of intelligent design? What if he included this on the final exam for the class? Maybe we would all in the end agree that in light of academic freedom principles this would be no endorsement by the State, but I think Marc is correct that there are interesting issues here. Eric From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Marty Lederman Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2014 10:02 PM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: Re: science professor lecture Well, I assumed Marc's question started from the premise that such a lecture would be very constitutionally dubious, at a minimum, if it occurred in primary or secondary school, and then was asking if and why the constitutional analysis would change in a public college setting . . . On Sun, Sep 28, 2014 at 9:39 PM, Steven Jamar <stevenja...@gmail.com<mailto:stevenja...@gmail.com>> wrote: How would it not be constitutional? What possible theory? On Sep 28, 2014, at 5:24 PM, Marc Stern <ste...@ajc.org<mailto:ste...@ajc.org>> wrote: Today's NY Times Review section has an article by a professor of evolutionary biology at a public university describing a lecture he gives annually explaining how that body of science ? has undermined central claims of religious traditions. Is it constitutional for him to give this lecture? Would it be constitutional for a professor of theology at the same university to offer a rebuttal in religious terms? Marc Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network. From: Rick Garnett Sent: Friday, September 26, 2014 10:43 AM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Reply To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: Re: GW National Religious Freedom Moot Court Competition Dear Chip, Thanks for this. I'm hoping that Notre Dame will send a team again. All the best, Rick Richard W. Garnett Professor of Law and Concurrent Professor of Political Science Director, Program on Church, State & Society Notre Dame Law School P.O. Box 780 Notre Dame, Indiana 46556-0780 574-631-6981<tel:574-631-6981> (w) 574-276-2252<tel:574-276-2252> (cell) rgarn...@nd.edu<mailto:rgarn...@nd.edu> To download my scholarly papers, please visit my SSRN page<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=342235> Blogs: Prawfsblawg<http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/> Mirror of Justice<http://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/> Twitter: @RickGarnett<https://twitter.com/RickGarnett> On Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 4:34 PM, Ira Lupu <icl...@law.gwu.edu<mailto:icl...@law.gwu.edu>> wrote: George Washington University will once again host the National Religious Freedom Moot Court Competition, presented by the J. Reuben Clark Law Society. The registration period is open from now until Nov. 15, 2014. The problem will be released on Nov. 17, 2014. The competition will be held at GW on Friday-Saturday, Feb. 6-7, 2015. The 2015 problem involves claims of conscience raised by teachers against a hypothetical law in Washington, D.C. that requires teachers and administrators to carry firearms on public school property during school hours. More information here: http://www.religionmootcourt.org/ (Ignore the Feb, 2014 dates at the top of the website). -- Ira C. Lupu F. Elwood & Eleanor Davis Professor of Law, Emeritus George Washington University Law School 2000 H St., NW Washington, DC 20052 (202)994-7053<tel:%28202%29994-7053> Co-author (with Professor Robert Tuttle) of "Secular Government, Religious People" ( Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2014)) My SSRN papers are here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=181272#reg _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. -- Prof. Steven D. Jamar vox: 202-806-8017<tel:202-806-8017> Director of International Programs, Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice http://iipsj.org Howard University School of Law fax: 202-806-8567<tel:202-806-8567> http://sdjlaw.org “There are no wrong notes in jazz: only notes in the wrong places.” Miles Davis _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
_______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
