Pennsylvania: School To Fight Intelligent Design Lawsuit
Centre Daily reports:
Seven members of the Dover Area School District board voted unanimously to retain a nonprofit law center that describes itself as a defender of Christians' religious beliefs, the Thomas More Law Center of Ann Arbor, Mich., despite the objections of most of the community members who spoke at the meeting.
You don't suppose that the fact that this is a group specializing in defending "Christians' religious beliefs" is coincidental or irrelevant, do you?
One of the community members who spoke in support of the board's decision, former school board member Donald Bonsell, said those against retaining counsel didn't represent the community at large. "As far as I'm concerned, go for it," he said. "Because it's time that we settled this issue."
If Bonsell feels so strongly about it, I wonder if he's willing to pay the full bills?
Thomas More Law Center spokesman Brian Burch said the organization was offering to defend the school district against the lawsuit. "Our attorneys ... believe what Dover has decided to do is defensible," Burch said.
This is an interesting claim, since the Discovery Institute doesn't agree:
“Dover’s current policy has a number of problems, not the least of which is its lack of clarity,” according to a statement it released Tuesday morning. “The policy’s incoherence raises serious problems from the standpoint of constitutional law.”
The point about "constitutional law" is important. This wouldn't be included if the Discovery Institute thought that the Dover policy was bad from an educational or scientific stance. The only "constitutional law" questions that are involved are those about teaching religion and religious beliefs in public schools. Thus, it sounds like they agree that the Dover policy at least looks like a mandate for teaching religious beliefs — exactly what the critics have been saying and what "Intelligent" Design apologists have been trying to deny.
The Discovery Institute has opposed the district’s curriculum change since it took place Oct. 18. Before the board voted, Discovery staff told board members they should not take the step of making intelligent design part of the curriculum. Since then, West said, Discovery staff has spoken privately with district officials and told them to reconsider. “We have tried to communicate our view to the board,” he said.
If Dover loses, as they certainly will, that will make the Discovery Institute look bad and set back the cause of "Intelligent" Design — so of course DI wants Dover to back down. This is the wrong case at the wrong time, as far as their political and religious agenda is concerned.
As the York Daily Record explains, at least one church in the area isn't supportive:
The Rev. John Woods of Calvary Lutheran said if he had been asked to sign, he would have refused. Intelligent design is just another way to package creationism, which shouldn't be taught in public schools, he said. He hears people say, "We need to get God back into the schools," and he doesn't believe God ever left, he said. People can pray anytime, and the spirit of God goes everywhere, he said. "No matter what happens, it is going to cost the school district and the taxpayers money," Woods said. "If the kids want to be taught something like this, let them find out in a church setting where it belongs."
It's nice to see that not all Christians in Dover have jumped on the "Intelligent" Design bandwagon, but enough have that the present course of the school board seems unalterable. Leaders, including William Buckingham, seem to regard themselves as tasked with a Holy Cause to drive godless hordes from the school and cleanse the Temple of their malversation.
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