Darwinist Group Settles Intelligent Design Proponent's Libel Suit
by Jim Brown
June 27, 2005
(AgapePress) - Darwinists are issuing a partial retraction for publishing an article that erroneously accused a Christian proponent of intelligent design theory of, among other things, submitting two creation science books to his local district for use in biology classes and also of having "a gross misunderstanding of science."Two months ago, California parent Larry Caldwell filed a libel lawsuit against the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) and its leader over an article that appeared in a publication called California Wild: the Magazine of the California Academy of Sciences. In the suit, which was filed in April, Caldwell alleged that the article written by NCSE executive director Eugenie Scott contained numerous factual misstatements. Also, he claimed the article libeled him in order to discredit him in his efforts to promote his proposed "Quality Science Education" policy, a plan to include teaching about some of the scientific weaknesses of the Darwin's theory of evolution in high school biology classes.
Following settlement negotiations, the Academy agreed to remove Scott's article from the Internet and to publish instead a long letter by Caldwell, correcting factual inaccuracies in the article. The magazine will also publish a letter by Scott, in which she corrects some of her factual misstatements.
Caldwell says although the California Academy of Sciences, the publisher of California Wild, was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, he is pleased with the actions of the Academy officials. "I'm satisfied with them," he notes, "because they at least gave me a fair opportunity to correct the record, and at least we had the author correcting some of the misstatements."
Still, the Christian parent is bothered by at least one aspect of the dispute with Scott and the NCSE. "The only thing is, it's a shame it took a lawsuit to get the author, in particular, to acknowledge the truth," he says. "Unfortunately, that organization has a long history of making false statements about other people in the evolution debate."
That is one reason why Caldwell intends to allow his suit against the NCSE and Scott to continue. "We just want to help encourage them to stick to the truth in the debate," he says, "because this is too important to rely on science fiction, as I've dubbed it."
Scott has now admitted the falseness of her allegation that a science expert purportedly said Caldwell had a "gross misunderstanding of science." She will also retract her claim that the Roseville high school board purportedly passed a resolution "recommending" that "creationist" materials be used in science classes.
Caldwell says he is pleased that the California Academy of Sciences and California Wild have shown the professional integrity to remove "this libelous article" from the Internet, and to give him an opportunity to set the record straight on his Quality Science Education policy.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
