Printer-Friendly Version

(CNSNews.com) -- A conservative legal group is threatening to sue a Michigan school district over the administration's confiscation of several copies of a science book that teaches the theory of intelligent design in tandem with the theory of evolution.

The Gull Lake Community School District in Ann Arbor, Mich., ordered that seventh grade science teachers only present the theory of evolution and that copies of "Of Panda and People," be confiscated, according to the Thomas More Law Center.

According to the center, which has filed a complaint with the school district, two science teachers presented the intelligent design theory alongside the theory of evolution and discussed the differences in class until district school superintendent Richard Ramsey confiscated the books.

The intelligent design theory is based on the idea that because the universe is so complex, it must have been set in motion by a higher being. The intelligent design theory does not point to a religious deity, but adopts views of creation similar to those in the Bible.

The center, in its complaint filed April 14, requested that the books be returned to the teachers, and that they be allowed to discuss the two theories again. It gave the district 14 days to respond, threatening to file a lawsuit in federal court.

The complaint describes the Michigan case as the reverse of the famed Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925. In the Scopes trial, the state of Tennessee attempted to prevent school teacher John Scopes from teaching scientific material that negated the scriptural accounts of creation.

"Now that Darwinism has achieved dominance," said Thomas More Law Center president Richard Thompson, "it is being forced on all teachers regardless of gaps in the theory or the scientific evidence to the contrary."

Thompson said the school district is violating the teachers' academic freedom and denying students "important information on the growing controversy surrounding the theory of evolution."

He warned that the confiscation of the intelligent design textbook placed the Gull Lake Community School District on "a slippery slope to book burning."

Superintendent Richard Ramsey's office referred all inquiries to the school district's legal counsel, Lisa Swem, who said the actions taken did not amount to a "confiscation." The removal of the textbooks was "a prudent move by the superintendent to just remove them at this point while it's being studied," she added.

Swem said that while the textbooks were removed from the classroom and are being stored on campus, one remains available at the school's library, where all students have access to it. She said she wasn't sure if the district was allowing teachers to use their lessons to encourage students to check out the book.

Swem said the process of discussing the legitimacy of the intelligent design theory is "ongoing." The superintendent, she said, has already commissioned a committee to study the issue and make a recommendation to the local board of education. The advisory committee includes the two teachers who were previously discussing intelligent design theory with their students.

>> Continued -- Page 1 2

Copyright © 1998-2005 CNSNews.com - Cybercast News Service