European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 8, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse The stars and stripes Page 10 letters James j. Kilpatrick wednesday Juty 8,19b7 court was right in voiding creationism act Louisiana s creationism act at Bottom was just what the supreme court called it last month the act was a Sham and a fairly transparent Sham at that. In the spurious name of academic Freedom he act sought to compel the teaching of a religious Doc Trine. This the Constitution forbids. The Case was rightly decided. Even so he Issue was not so one sided As the courts 7 2 division would suggest. Certain aspects of Justice Wil Liam Brennan s majority opinion Are profoundly disturb ing. In dissent. Justice Antonin Scala joined by chief Justice William Rehnquist said some things about Judi Cial restrain that sorely need to be said. Scalia thought that Sham had been too quickly inferred and he objected 10 disposing of the Case on the the facts Are Clear. In 1982 Louisiana passed a Law affecting All of the state s Public schools. The act did not require the leaching of any theories on the origin of life but the and decreed that if the theory of evolution were taught the theory of creationism had to be Given equal time. A group of parents sued to have the act held unconstitutional. Both the . District court and the 5th circuit agreed with he parents complaint. The supreme court affirmed the lower courts decisions. Brennan began by emphasizing hat Stales and local Sui ool boards do not have unbounded discretion in matters of curriculum. Their discretion is subject to constitutional limitation. Families entrust Public schools with the Edu cation of their children but condition their Trust on the understanding that the classroom will not purposely be used to Advance religious views prior cases dealing with the establishment clause have Laid Down a Rule that ads touching in any Way upon Reli Gion must have a secular legislative statements of such a purpose must be sincere and not a the legislative history of Louisiana s act made it Clear that lire purpose was not to Advance academic free Dom. On its face the act was not balanced it listed inward creationism. We need not be Blind to the legis lature s pre eminent religious purpose in enacting this the purpose was clearly to Advance the religious viewpoint that a supernatural being created human the act thus violated the Fin amendment and had to be struck Down. Very Well but if the court was saying that Only the theory of evolution May be taught in Public schools we Are in deep trouble. Brennan s opinion walked to the very Brink of such a disaster. The majority offered but a single sentence of reassurance teaching a variety of scientific theories about the origins of Humankind to schoolchildren might be validly done wild the Clear seen George will z cast out of the Garden Lar intent of enhancing the effectiveness of science note the heavy verb this might be done. Brennan s doubt is As palpable As a Stone. This is the troubling thing. The theory of evolution i just thai a theory nothing More nothing less. It is a theory embraced by our very Best scientists. But to worship science is to worship a most inconstant god and for the High court o give its imprimatur to one theory excluding All others would be intolerable. In other eras the very Best scientists have been very wrong. The very Best oceanographers once were certain the world was Flat. The very Best doctors of the Middle Ages had a Way of treating lunatics they drilled holes inthe Lunatic Skull to let the demons out. The very Best physicians of the 18th Century put leeches to George Washington. In the matter at hand some quite respectable scientists testified that creationism relies upon far More than genesis i. These scientists do not regard creationism and evolution As mutually exclusive theories. In deed there is general agreement on he tumultuous for mation of seas and mountains sons ago. It is generally agreed that vegetation came fir followed by fish and amphibians followed by mammals followed by human kind. Unless the biblical word Day is read literally to mean 24 hours which is nonsense the theories closely coincide. We ought to keep minds More open than the mind of Justice Brennan and we ought to leave a vast Deal of educational inquiry to the states and local school boards. Milton s advice was to let he winds of doctrine and Milton was right. In anal Prei there s nothing scientific about creation science if you imagine that the supreme court was sufficiently severe in striking Down the Louisiana Law requiring the teaching of creation science when Evo Lution is aught you imagine wrong la was technically sufficient for the court to conclude that the Law violated the three prong test Hal detects establishment of religion. But neither the majority nor the min Rily spoke sensibly about creation science which holds that he physical universe and life within it appeared suddenly by the act of a supernatural creator and have not changed substantially since appearing the Case hardly constituted a close Call. Louisiana s Law impaled itself on All three prongs of the establish ment test. A Law comport with the establishment clause if it has a secular purpose if it neither advances a tar inhibits religion and does not involve excessive government entanglement with religion. Louisiana s a required love Mantl to stuff 3 religious Dogma into school curricula. But Uslice Brennan writing for the majority did not question the scientific nature of creation Sci he even suggested the Law would have been ins flawed it could have been presented As an attempt to Maxim ii the comprehensiveness of scientific instruction if in had encouraged the caching of All scientific theories about the origin of Humankind rather than Jun two. Two creation science is a scientific theory it is Suh Onsiri monally relevant thai the Phynie creation science is an oxymoron. The Ikima packed into the word creation is incompatible with a defining attribute of a scientific theory. Such a theory must be open to scientists count themselves scientists be cause they Are interested in evidence that Calls into question particular hypotheses about the mechanism of evolution. But their Dogma is neither based on nor vulnerable to scientific scrutiny of the world. In a dismaying dissent Justice Scalia joined by chief Justice Rehnquist suggests that it is unfair to infer a non secular purpose to Louisiana s Protection of creation Sci Scalia takes seriously the legislature s words about protecting academic but no one wants to pro led academic Freedom by requiring the leaching of fial Earth doctrines in geography classes or Alchemy in Chemis try classes. The difference is Hal no one reads those Doc Innes into the Book of genesis. Scalia says Ibe views of the court about creation science and evolution Are or in Iolj be Iasi John Point. Our task is not to judge the debate about teaching the origins of life but to bit train Whit the members of Hil no Isquia legis lature Scalia s formulation is nonsense because creation science is nonsense on stills. Again there is no scientific debate about whether evolution is a fact. The debate is about How evolution happens. Scalia with Serene impartiality Between science Ana pseudo science Sayi Louisiana has a right to give students whatever scientific evidence there May be against evolution. Good grief Stephen Gould Call your office. You Are Busy caching biology geology and the history of science at Harvard but now you Mun head far the Law school and combat science illiteracy. Scalia finds praiseworthy la s requirement that Evo Lution be taught As a theory rather than As proven Trien Lif in that use of the word theory illustrates Gould s Point thai in the Layman s vernacular theory Means less than a but that usage is mistaken. Facts arc Rev Isable data about the world. The orig arc supposed to interpret facts. Evolution is fact about which there Are various explanatory theories. All dogs think in latin is a theory for which there is no factual basis. Creation science is a theory for people who Are Only interested in facts thai weigh against a rival theory. But As Gould has written no scientist doubts the Basic fact hat life evolves. The uncertainties concern the mechanisms. When Scatia pics la make much of the fact that the original version of the Louisiana Bill emphasized giving students a Choice Between scientific models he is Only documenting the confusion of Loui Siana s legislators. But thai does nut change the act that they were legislating a religious assertion disguised As a scientific inquiry. The he is poignancy in the plight of Funda mentalists whose spiritual serenity is under i gear a facts. In is for theologians to say what consequences the fact of evolution has for Faith. But it is for every through Toul citizen to by this the Bedrock of Western civilization is a willingness no in tis Moi to Fane and embrace facts. And it the facts inconvenience beliefs too bad for the beliefs
