ADF Appeals Ban on Georgia Science Text Evolution Disclaimers
by Jim Brown
April 22, 2005
(AgapePress) - A religious liberties law firm is weighing in on a Cobb County, Georgia, case involving a school board's decision to remove evolution disclaimer stickers from school science textbooks.In January, U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Cooper ordered the Cobb County Board of Education to remove the textbook stickers, which stated, "Evolution is a theory, not a fact." Now, however, the Alliance Defense Fund has filed a "friend of the court" brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in defense of the evolution disclaimer.
ADF senior legal counsel Kevin Theriot says Judge Cooper's ruling smacked of anti-religious bigotry. "The District Court decision really and seriously misstates the law," he says. "It essentially holds that, just because a school board's decision happened to be supported by Christians, then it's unconstitutional and violates the establishment clause."
Theriot says if the District Court ruling is allowed to stand, Christians will be isolated from the political process in Cobb County. He believes the prohibition of the textbook sticker sets a troubling precedent.
The ADF attorney says the broadest implication of that precedent is that, "if the religious community supports a particular action by the school board -- whether that be mandating saying the Pledge of Allegiance or allowing a Bible club to meet -- there's danger a court will hold it unconstitutional because it makes it look like the school board's coddling [or catering ] to the religious community."
Theriot believes the Cobb County School District could have bettered its case by presenting testimony from scientists who hold to criticisms of Darwinian evolution. ADF is asking the Eleventh Circuit Court to reverse the lower district court's ruling that the science textbook disclaimer stickers are unconstitutional.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
