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Science vs. religion disquiets small Pa. town
It started with a textbook.
In June 2004, a Dover, Pa., school board member criticized the district’s biology text for offering too much “Darwinism” and suggested it adopt a new one that that would teach creationism as well as evolution.
What started out as a curriculum review turned into a firestorm in the small, rural community near York, when the school board decided to introduce “intelligent design” – which holds that life on earth was the product of a higher force – in ninth grade biology.
In a trial that starts today in federal court in Harrisburg, the American Civil Liberties Union will ask the judge to order the district to cut intelligent design from the curriculum.
The debate in this 3,600-student district has set neighbor against neighbor, divided the school community, and polarized the town, thick with churches and whose main street cuts through a mix of farms, housing developments and a new strip shopping center. Two school board members quit in protest. And in the May primary, 20 people ran for seven seats on the school board, winnowed to 14 for the November election.
“It’s been divisive,” said Steve Stough, a life-science teacher and one of the parents who sued.
He joined the suit, he said, because he didn’t want his 14-year-old daughter to get her religious training at school. “They’re mixing church and state. That’s what this is all about.”
But intelligent-design supporters in town say they don’t understand the tempest.
“If we were teaching creationism or teaching the Bible, we would have every reason to be in court,” said the Rev. Edward Rowand, a school board member and pastor of Rohlers Assembly of God Church in Dover. “The only thing we’re teaching is evolution. There is a one-minute statement that says there are other theories. If you want to know what they are, go to the library and check them out.”
The dispute erupted when the board was reworking the biology curriculum.
According to the lawsuit, William Buckingham, who headed the curriculum committee, said the book that was recommended by the administration, Biology: The Living Science was “laced with Darwinism.” He advocated using Of Pandas and People: The Central Question of Biological Origins, to present what he considered a balanced view between creationism and evolution.
“This country wasn’t founded on Muslim beliefs or evolution,” he is quoted in the lawsuit as saying. “This country was founded on Christianity and our students should be taught as such.”
At an August meeting, Buckingham’s proposal was defeated when the board voted 5-3 to purchase Biology.
On Oct. 18, the board voted 6-3 on what appeared to be a compromise: requiring biology teachers to read a 159-word statement about intelligent design during a lesson on evolution, and refer students to Of Pandas and People in the school library if they wanted more information.
Early this year, the statement, which says there are “gaps” in the theory of evolution, was read to students for the first time by administrators, not science teachers, who refused to do so. Students were allowed to excuse themselves during the reading.
The ACLU’s case will focus on the “factual and legal problems” of presenting intelligent design as a scientific theory, said Witold J. Walczak, legal director of the Pennsylvania ACLU.
Moreover, religious statements made by Buckingham and other board members will “show that the board was acting for religious reasons in changing the biology curriculum,” said Eric Rothschild, a partner at Pepper Hamilton in Philadelphia, which is part of the ACLU legal team.
The school district will argue that merely mentioning intelligent design is not a constitutional violation, said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, a conservative religious group representing Dover.
Like the Scopes “monkey trial” in 1925, which took on the air of a religious revival, the Dover trial is expected to draw demonstrators, a packed courtroom and international news media.
“It’s going to be a circus,” said Carol Brown, who resigned from the school board along with her husband, Jeff. Both are scheduled to testify.
Also expected on the witness stand is the man considered to be the dean of the intelligent-design movement, Michael Behe, who said in an interview last week that he believed communities should decide for themselves whether to teach intelligent design in their schools.
Which is what Dover did and how it evolved from anonymous hamlet to epicenter of a religious and political maelstrom.
During last spring’s primary, political signs and billboards sprouted along the roadsides. Pano Georgakopoulos, 24, owner of Three Fountains Family Restaurant said people stayed away from the restaurant after a candidate put some signs in front of his business.
“They yelled at us, so I had to take them down,” he said.
On the eve of the trial, the atmosphere is less charged. There is hope that when it’s over, Dover will return to the way it was before it landed on the nation’s radar, a quiet town that took pride in its schools.
“I hope we go back to the regular curriculum,” said Staugh, “and this whole thing goes away.”
“Keep An Open Mind”
Text of the statement on intelligent design that Dover Area High School administrators are reading to students at the start of biology lessons on evolution:
“The Pennsylvania Academic Standards require students to learn about Darwin’s theory of evolution and eventually to take a standardized test of which evolution is a part.
“Because Darwin’s theory is a theory, it continues to be tested as new evidence is discovered. The theory is not a fact. Gaps in the theory exist for which there is no evidence. A theory is defined as a well-tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations.
“Intelligent design is an explanation of the origin of life that differs from Darwin’s view. The reference book, Of Pandas and People, is available for students who might be interested in gaining an understanding of what intelligent design actually involves.
“With respect to any theory, students are encouraged to keep an open mind. The school leaves the discussion of the origins of life to individual students and their families. As a standards-driven district, class instruction focuses upon preparing students to achieve proficiency on standards-based assessments.”
ONLINE EXTRA
To read documents in the case, go to the U.S. District Court Web site via http://go.philly.com/evolution
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