El Tejon Case
stcynic | January 17, 2006I know, I know, they lie so often that it's hardly worth pointing it out. But take a look at how brazen this is - they claim that Americans United is contradicting themselves in taking two positions, then they put the actual positions right next to each other that show the obvious distinction between the two. This is from Rob Crowther, who is doing a bang up job as a paid shill in distorting and spinning. He is here claiming that Americans United is "singing a different tune now than they did last year during the Dover trial" when it comes to whether you can teach about creationism in a non-…
stcynic | January 17, 2006The El Tejon school district has agreed to cancel their creationism class and not to teach it again, thus settling the case before it went to trial:
Americans United for Separation of Church and State today announced that it has settled a lawsuit over a California school district's decision to teach a course promoting creationism...
Under the terms of the settlement, the course will terminate one week early. The district's board of trustees has also agreed to language stating, "No school over which the School District has authority, including the High School, shall offer, presently or in the…
stcynic | January 15, 2006The NCSE's legal blog reports that there is a hearing scheduled on Tuesday in Federal court to hear arguments on the plaintiff's motion for a temporary injunction preventing the school from teaching the course in question while it is fought out in court. There was also a report in the Bakersfield, CA newspaper that the school has entered into negotiations with Americans United over a possible setlement in the case. Unfortunately, I can't get to that article.
stcynic | January 14, 2006Casey Luskin appeared before the El Tejon school board to give them some advice on the creationist "philosophy" course. In short, he told them to cancel it:
From what I can tell, this course was originally formulated as if it would promote young earth or Biblical creationism as scientific fact. Although I understand that the course has since been reformulated to remove the creationist material, a course description was sent out to students around December 1st which described this course as promoting young earth or Biblical creationism as scientific fact. This is very concerning because courts…
stcynic | January 12, 2006Josh Claybourn at In The Agora has written a post about the El Tejon case and I'm going to respond to it here. I used to write for In The Agora, as most of my readers surely know, and I have enormous respect for Josh. He's a really, really smart guy who will undoubtedly show us all great things as he gets older. Still, I think his post here is wide of the mark for several reasons. He writes:
Yet John Mark Reynolds' warning that ID will be "illegal" in all forms at a public school is in jeopardy of coming true. Parents of students at Frazier Mountain High School have filed a lawsuit in…
stcynic | January 11, 2006As usual, the Discovery Institute is having a little difficulty settling on a coherent position on the El Tejon ID class controversy. Their first response, written by Robert Crowther, is entitled "Darwinists Want To Ban Intelligent Design From Not Just Science Classrooms, But All Classrooms." Crowther predictably fumes at us evil "Darwinists" who want the class removed, which of course implies that the course is legitimate and constitutional and therefore it is unreasonable for Americans United to file suit against it. Crowther writes:
What is it that has these United Americans all upset?…
stcynic | January 11, 2006I was gonna fisk the DI's reaction to the El Tejon case, but Mike Dunford already did it quite well. The DI, via Casey Luskin, predictably tries to spin this as proof of us evil "Darwinists" and our intolerance for ID. But at the same time, he admits that this course is not merely teaching about ID but is actually advocating creationism:
The course is misnamed--it actually advocates for young earth creationism and teaches out of the Bible.
If it advocates for young earth creationism, then it doesn't matter whether it's in a philosophy course or a science course, a public school simply cannot…
stcynic | January 11, 2006I was gonna fisk the DI's reaction to the El Tejon case, but Mike Dunford already did it quite well. The DI, via Casey Luskin, predictably tries to spin this as proof of us evil "Darwinists" and our intolerance for ID. But at the same time, he admits that this course is not merely teaching about ID but is actually advocating creationism:
The course is misnamed--it actually advocates for young earth creationism and teaches out of the Bible.
If it advocates for young earth creationism, then it doesn't matter whether it's in a philosophy course or a science course, a public school simply cannot…
stcynic | January 11, 2006Americans United has released the full complaint filed in Federal court in the El Tejon case. I'll be reading it and commenting soon.
stcynic | January 11, 2006We have many media reports today on the El Tejon ID suit. The full press release from Americans United is available on their website. The LA Times has an article about the controversy that includes a couple of interesting tidbits. Of the district's legal advice, it says:
At a special meeting of the El Tejon Unified School District on Jan. 1, at which the board approved the new course, "Philosophy of Design," school Supt. John W. Wight said that he had consulted the school district's attorneys and that they "had told him that as long as the course was called 'philosophy,' " it could pass legal…
stcynic | January 11, 2006Americans United has released the full complaint filed in Federal court in the El Tejon case. I'll be reading it and commenting soon.
stcynic | January 11, 2006We have many media reports today on the El Tejon ID suit. The full press release from Americans United is available on their website. The LA Times has an article about the controversy that includes a couple of interesting tidbits. Of the district's legal advice, it says:
At a special meeting of the El Tejon Unified School District on Jan. 1, at which the board approved the new course, "Philosophy of Design," school Supt. John W. Wight said that he had consulted the school district's attorneys and that they "had told him that as long as the course was called 'philosophy,' " it could pass legal…
stcynic | January 10, 2006Americans United has filed suit against the El Tajon Unified School District in California over a course there that includes creationism. The twist here is that the school has placed the class in philosophy rather than science and claims to be teaching about both evolution and creationism without advocating either as true. The evidence at this point suggests that is a merely a ruse to get creationism into the school's curriculum. I don't have a copy of the AU complaint at this point, but I'm sure I will soon. Until then, here is some information from various other sources. The AU's press…
stcynic | January 10, 2006Americans United has filed suit against the El Tajon Unified School District in California over a course there that includes creationism. The twist here is that the school has placed the class in philosophy rather than science and claims to be teaching about both evolution and creationism without advocating either as true. The evidence at this point suggests that is a merely a ruse to get creationism into the school's curriculum. I don't have a copy of the AU complaint at this point, but I'm sure I will soon. Until then, here is some information from various other sources. The AU's press…