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School Bans 'Intelligent Design,' Faces Possible Lawsuit
By Nathan Burchfiel
CNSNews.com Correspondent
April 25, 2005
Page 2 of 2
"It is anticipated that the committee will have a recommendation to the board of education before the end of this school year," Swem said, adding that once the recommendation has been submitted to the board, the decision is the board's to make.
She said that litigation from the Thomas More Law Center will "complicate matters," but said that "the school district is going forward as planned, convening the committee, finalizing so they can make a recommendation and a threat of a lawsuit is not going to interfere with that careful, considered, deliberative process."
But Thompson said the school's advisory committee, which was formed in December, is a deception. "This committee has been told they're not going to make a decision until there is a consensus which means that our clients have to agree not to teach intelligent design," Thompson told Cybercast News Service.
The committee is "a total pretext to ... prevent the study of intelligent design," Thompson said. It's "a facade that is not going to get anything done, has not gotten anything done and it's been a pretext under which they have confiscated the books and have told our clients you can't teach intelligent design."
Thompson said the school district is restricting the teaching of the intelligent design theory because it is religious and is not supported by science. But the teachers and Thomas More Law Center say that "it is a credible science and there are scientists that uphold that theory."
He added that intelligent design is not inherently religious because "what we are looking at is scientists coming to the different scientific conclusions based upon empirical data, not Holy Scripture, not the Bible, not liturgy, but scientific data."
Thompson said the Thomas More Law Center will file the lawsuit against the district if unless the teachers in question are allowed to resume their classroom discussions of intelligent design by April 28. Swem said she is currently drafting a response to the center but did not offer details of the reaction.
"Either the students are going to be made aware of the controversy" between the theory of evolution and the theory of intelligent design, Thompson said, "or there will be a lawsuit."
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