Thursday, January 05, 2006
Our Newest Op Ed
Making Darwin Right
- By Rudy Takala
U.S. District Judge John Jones, in a recent 139 page ruling out of Pennsylvania, droned that mentioning intelligent design in a biology course violated the First Amendment. Selectively acknowledging only the precedent that happened to support his opinion, he said the proponents of intelligent design were "liars." He reduced the case to a question of whether or not promoting cognizance of intelligent design amounted to an "endorsement or disapproval of religion."
On page ninety-seven, he cited an occasion on which one board member gave an assistant superintendent one of David Barton's books, indubitable evidence that the board members didn't sufficiently revere separation of church and state. Thus, he reasoned, the board members' beliefs rendered their policies unconstitutional. Their standards of education would have been Constitutional only if they had been prompted by secular motives.
The irony of this decision coming less than a month after Paul Mirecki's resignation from the head of Kansas University's Department of Religious Studies is apropos. After Mirecki instigated an outcry by attempting to start a course that equated creationism with mythology, his course was cancelled, and he relinquished his prominent position. Mirecki is now attempting to sue the university for failing to support him vigorously enough. ..........
Click HERE To Read On
- By Rudy Takala
U.S. District Judge John Jones, in a recent 139 page ruling out of Pennsylvania, droned that mentioning intelligent design in a biology course violated the First Amendment. Selectively acknowledging only the precedent that happened to support his opinion, he said the proponents of intelligent design were "liars." He reduced the case to a question of whether or not promoting cognizance of intelligent design amounted to an "endorsement or disapproval of religion."
On page ninety-seven, he cited an occasion on which one board member gave an assistant superintendent one of David Barton's books, indubitable evidence that the board members didn't sufficiently revere separation of church and state. Thus, he reasoned, the board members' beliefs rendered their policies unconstitutional. Their standards of education would have been Constitutional only if they had been prompted by secular motives.
The irony of this decision coming less than a month after Paul Mirecki's resignation from the head of Kansas University's Department of Religious Studies is apropos. After Mirecki instigated an outcry by attempting to start a course that equated creationism with mythology, his course was cancelled, and he relinquished his prominent position. Mirecki is now attempting to sue the university for failing to support him vigorously enough. ..........
Click HERE To Read On
# posted by Publius @ 1/05/2006 02:02:00 AM 
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