In a sweeping decision, Judge John E. Jones III ruled that Intelligent Design is “a religious alternative masquerading as a scientific theory.” In this ruling, Judge Jones chose not to limit his ruling simply to Dover, but instead he ruled that teaching Intelligent Design in the classroom is unconstitutional.
This decision will undoubtedly be appealed, and may reach the Supreme Court. Remember, back in 1987, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 against a Louisiana law advocating giving creationism and evolution equal footing in the classroom. By ruling that I.D. is a religious alternative to evolution, Judge Jones has placed it in the same category as creationism. Thus, the Federal Appeals court must overturn the decision that I.D. is a religious theory if it is to be in agreement with the 1987 Supreme Court ruling.
This may be hard to do, as I.D. experts have been quoted as saying things like “you can’t prove intelligent design by experiment” (Michael Behe). Since experiment is the foundation of science, I.D. cannot be, and is not, a scientific theory.
Unfortunately, this ruling probably does not prevent Kansas from teaching that evolution is a flawed theory. No court can strike down a faulty decision about the science, it is up to the people of Kansas to do so.
I was very pleased when I learned of this decision. According to a piece I read, appeal in this case is unlikely because a new school board has since been elected with a majority who oppose ID. Yeah!
Good to be back from India, though I was very sick the first few days back, finally better tonight.
-Bruce
Bruce,
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for no appeal, because that I think would really strengthen the judicial precedent of this case. I also noticed that the judge in the case is both a Republican and a Bush appointee, which should shield the decision from the otherwise-inevitable cries of partisanship that we would have seen with a Democratic judge.
Glad to hear that you are back and in reasonably good (bloggable, I hope) shape!
I think Bruce is right that the case will not be appealed because the Dover School Board members who instituted the ID policy were voted out of office. The new Board has no reason to appeal the decision since they do not disagree with the result.
But this will not be the end of the religious right’s assault on evolutionary theory. Discrediting evolutionary theory is the centerpiece of their agenda.
Walter