A federal lawsuit has been filed by an association of Christian schools against the University of California system accusing them of discrimination because they won't recognize the validity of some courses at Christian secondary schools that use creationist textbooks:
The Association of Christian Schools International, which represents more than 800 schools, filed a federal lawsuit Thursday claiming UC admissions officials have refused to certify high school science courses that use textbooks challenging Darwin's theory of evolution. Other rejected courses include "Christianity's Influence in American History."
According to the lawsuit, the Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta was told its courses were rejected because they use textbooks printed by two Christian publishers, Bob Jones University Press and A Beka Books.
Wendell E. Bird, a lawyer for the association, said the policy violates the rights of students and religious schools.
If the name Wendell Bird sounds familiar, it may be because he was the author of the Arkansas creation science bill that was struck down in McLean v. Arkansas, a 1981 Federal court case. I strongly suspect he's going to go down in flames in this suit too. Mike Dunford has some details on some of the nonsense taught in the Bob Jones textbook on biology. As he points out, this is an alleged science textbook that states:
The people who prepared this book have tried consistently to put the Word of God first and science second...If...at any point God's Word is not put first, the authors apologize.
Gosh, I can't imagine why the UC system won't accept this as a science course. Here's another example of the blatantly non-scientific nature of the textbook:
The same encyclopedia article may state that the grasshopper evolved 300 million years ago. You may find a description of some insect that the grasshopper supposedly evolved from and a description of the insects that scientists say evolved from the grasshopper. You may even find a "scientific" explanation of the biblical locust (grasshopper) plague in Egypt. These statements are conclusions based on "supposed science." If the conclusions contradict the Word of God, the conclusions are wrong, no matter how many scientific facts may appear to back them.
Let's just say I want to be in court when they attempt to defend these passages in court. This should be fun to watch.
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I suppose that the CA college system would contend that they refused to certify that the "science" courses was because the textbooks that were used weren't science textbooks. No religious issue, the issue would be the "science."
All other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you.--Lev.11:23
the hare, because he cheweth the cud , Lev. 11:6
If the conclusions contradict the Word of God, the conclusions are wrong, no matter how many scientific facts may appear to back them.
Therefore insects have four legs. Hares are ruminants.
And check Lev:14 for a terrific leprosy cure. But you try getting a godless liberal 'scientist' to accept it.
Not only do these schools want to teach young people poorly, it also wants UC not to mind. The real crime isn't the UC's standards; it's what these schools are doing to these kids.
Bird wrote the original draft bill, which was modified by Paul Ellwanger, and then passed as Arkansas Act 590. See
http://antievolution.org/projects/mclean/new_site/index.htm