Intelligent Design Introduced in PA Town While ACLU Watches
by Jim Brown and Jody Brown
January 24, 2005
(AgapePress) - A pro-family attorney says a small Pennsylvania school district has sparked a "revolution in evolution."Last week, the town of Dover became the first school district in the nation to officially inform students of the theory of "intelligent design" as an alternative to Darwin's theory of evolution. With the exception of about 15 students who opted out, the rest of the community's 170 ninth-grade biology students were read a four-paragraph statement that referred to evolution as a theory, not a fact. And while Darwin's theory continues to be tested, said the statement, "intelligent design is an explanation of the origin of life that differs from Darwin's view."
This all occurred despite a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging the constitutionality of Dover's science policy. The ACLU, which describes intelligent design as "an inherently religious argument or assertion made in opposition to the scientific theory of evolution," had announced they would not seek a court order to block the statement from being read to the students.
Dick Thompson is president and chief counsel of the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center, which is representing the Dover school district. He believes the ACLU and the science community are afraid that "a divine foot will be in the door" and, as a result, their "atheistic agenda" will collapse.
"It is not science versus religion that's involved here -- it's science versus science," Thompson says. "Credible scientists are now looking at the data, [such as] the indication that even the cell structure itself shows a complex machine that could not have developed by a random chance -- and therefore, intelligent design was involved."
The ACLU, Thompson explains, is in a "frenzy" because of the two-word phrase "intelligent design."
"They just don't want that concept to be introduced," the attorney says. "Knowing their agenda, I can understand why."
And the battle to get the concept into public science education is an important one for everyone, he says. "It's a fight not only for Christians, but it's a fight for anybody who is interested in an honest, science education," he declares.
The Thomas More attorney calls it "ironic" that the ACLU, after working diligently to prevent the suppression of Darwin's theory in the historic Scopes trial, is now "doing everything it can to suppress any effort to challenge it."
Thompson says if Dover defeats the ACLU lawsuit, he is hopeful that other school districts will include the concept of intelligent design in their curriculum. The lawsuit is expected to go to trial in the early summer.
