No Disclaimer Required
Supreme Court Lets Evolution Ruling Stand
By Richard Carelli
The Associated Press
W A S H I N G T O N, June 19 — The Supreme Court refused to let
a public school district require that the teaching of evolution
be accompanied by a disclaimer mentioning “the biblical version
of creation” and other teachings on life’s origin.
The justices, by a 6-3 vote today, let stand rulings that
struck down a Louisiana school board’s disclaimer policy as a
violation of the constitutionally required separation of
government and religion.
Today’s action was not a precedent-setting decision but
only a denial of review.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Antonin
Scalia and Clarence Thomas voted to hear arguments in the case.
The Tangipahoa Parish school board in 1994 voted to require
teachers to tell students about to study the theory of evolution
that is “presented to inform students of the scientific concept
and not intended to influence or dissuade the biblical version of
creation or any other concept.”
The disclaimer drafted by the school board also said: “It
is the basic right and privilege of each student to form his-her
own opinion or maintain beliefs taught by parents on this very
important matter. … Students are urged to exercise critical
thinking and gather all information possible and closely examine
each alternative toward forming an opinion.” Promoting Religion
Three parents of students sued in federal court to challenge the
policy, and a federal judge blocked its enforcement. The judge
said the disclaimer was unconstitutional because it had a
religious purpose.
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
agreed that the disclaimer had to be struck down but cited a
different reason — it had the effect of promoting religion.
The panel did not rule out the possibility that a school
board could require some type of disclaimer stating that
evolution was not the only accepted explanation of the origin of
life. But it said the Tangipahoa Parish disclaimer “under the
facts and circumstances of this case … is not sufficiently
neutral” to be constitutionally permissible.
In the appeal acted today, lawyers for the school board
argued that “the mere mention of the biblical version of
creation by way of illustration does not present a significant
risk of perceived endorsement of Bible-based religion.”
The appeal said reasonable high school or elementary
students would not interpret the disclaimer as a pro-religion
message.
“The central message of the disclaimer resolution is that
there are no outsiders or insiders, no one who is favored or
disfavored, on the issue of life’s origin but persons of all
viewpoints are full members in the school community.”
Neutrality Toward Religion Lawyers for those who challenged the
disclaimer disagreed. “By disclaiming only evolution — the
one element of the school curriculum that generates religious
controversy — the school board has violated both the
constitutional mandate of neutrality toward religion and its
obligation to provide its students with secular educations free
from religious indoctrination or partisanship,” they said.
They noted that the disclaimer was drafted shortly after the
school board voted 5-4 to reject a proposal to teach
“creation-science” in the district’s schools.
Creation-science teaches that Earth and most life forms came
into existence suddenly about 6,000 years ago. Critics have
attacked it as a disguise for a literal translation of the Book
of Genesis.
Evolution, first propounded by Charles Darwin, states that
Earth is billions of years old, and that life forms developed
gradually several million years ago.
The Supreme Court in 1987 barred states from requiring the
teaching of creationism in public schools where evolution is
taught, calling such a Louisiana law a thinly veiled attempt to
promote religion.
The teaching of evolution has been controversial since the
famous 1925 “monkey law” trial in which teacher John Scopes
was convicted and fined $100 for teaching evolution when
Tennessee law made it a crime to teach anything but the Biblical
version of creation.
Scopes’ conviction later was overturned by the Tennessee
Supreme Court on a procedural matter, and never reached the
nation’s highest court.
The case is Tangipahoa Parish Board of Education vs.
Freiler, 99-1625.
Writing for the court’s three dissenters today, Scalia
criticized the court for standing by while an appeals court
“bars a school district from even suggesting to students that
other theories besides evolution — including but not limited
to, the biblical theory of creation — are worthy of their
consideration.”
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/evolution000619.html
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