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January 12, 2006
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State is suing the State of California over an elective course that promotes intelligent design.
As The Carpetbagger points out, this case is slightly different from the recent ID dustup in Dover, PA. The course is an elective called "Philosophy of Design." So, at least the El Tejon school district can't be accused of insinuating religion into the science curriculum.
However, there can be little doubt that the course has a strong pro-ID slant:
For example, [the] syllabus asks why ID is "gaining momentum" and why it is "so threatening to society, the educational system and evolutionists." The original syllabus for the class listed 24 videos for potential use, all but one of them produced by religious organizations and centered on attacking evolution and advancing intelligent design. One video, called "Chemicals to Living Cells: Fantasy or Science," is produced by a Christian ministry called Answers in Genesis. [LAT]I'm somewhat torn about this one. I know this is another culture war stalking horse. The IDers' order of battle is not subtle: first establish a beach head for ID in philosophy as a base for a fall offensive against biology. However, I'm inclined to think that if a district wants to discuss ID in an elective philosophy class, they should probably be allowed to do so. Still, I'm with Dr. Freeride when she says, "Please don't call that philosophy!"
[Carpetbagger Report, Ethics and Science]
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