http://thepost.baker.ohiou.edu/E.php?article=3DE1&date=3D092605


Religion in disguise



Revisiting an intellectual battle that has raged intermittently for the
last 80 years, a Pennsylvania trial begins this week to decide the
constitutionality of teaching intelligent design in public schools.
Although the issue seems rather simple from an objective standpoint, it h=

been complicated by church officials and religious-minded politicians bent
on blurring the line separating church and state. The concept of

intelligent design - ultimately religion under the guise of science - sti=

has no place within the halls of public schools.

Judicial precedent stands opposed to the teaching of creationism - the le=

politically correct term - in public schools, with the Supreme Court
banning it in a 1987 ruling. Some have responded by engineering a
pseudo-scientific theory that never explicitly mentions God. Nonetheless,
intelligent design is no more than a tailored version of creationism - the
purely religious belief that a creator built the world - intended to
circumvent the ruling of the high court. The Supreme Court banned
creationism because it directly violates the important democratic princip=

of the separation of church and state. Special interests who cannot cast
aside their personal bias toward the matter have chosen to violate that
principle in a less direct manner through their promotion of that blatant=

unscientific "theory."

Intelligent design, which holds that nature is so complex it must have be=

the work of a "God-like" creator, is supposed to be an alternative to
Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Darwin's theory is founded in
empirical observation and is fully accepted by the scientific mainstream.
In contrast, intelligent design is a vague and mystical abstraction that
should be recognized as a feeble attempt to inject religion into science
and, consequently, school curriculums. Some, including President Bush, ha=

advocated teaching both, but that is akin to teaching speculation alongsi=

scientific reality.

Attacking intelligent design as the farce that it is often raises the ire
of devoutly religious individuals. What the faithful must realize, howeve=

is that the argument is not about the existence or lack thereof of God.
Teaching creationism, intelligent design or any other pseudo-science in a
public school science class ignores science. God can remain the topic in
churches, homes, private schools, philosophy classes and elsewhere. In the
biology classes of publicly funded school systems, however, only science
should be discussed.


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Posting and reading from alt.politics.usa.constitution OR alt.education

The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm

American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm

The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html

[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]

HRSepCnS =B7 Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/

[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the U.S. and a couple from overseas as well]

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. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why =

page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisne=

256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
. . .
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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