Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion Read Online Free PDF Page B

of the diverse nature of the county’s population and its visible location as a bedroom community for Atlanta, the disclaimer immediately encountered stiff opposition in Cobb County. The Georgia ACLU promptly filed suit on behalf of a group of local students and their parents.
    In his judicial opinion, Judge Clarence Cooper tackled antievolutionists’ “only a theory” argument. Of course evolution is only a theory, but it’s not a hunch or a guess, he noted. “The Sticker targets only evolution to be approached with an open mind, carefully studied, and critically considered without explaining why it is the only theory being so isolated as such,” he wrote. In light of the historic and continuing opposition to the theory of evolution by certain religious groups, Judge Cooper concluded that, “the informed, reasonable observer would perceive the school board to be aligning itself with proponents of religious theories of origins.” Thus the sticker constituted an impermissible endorsement of religion under prevailing constitutional standards. 9 This holding relied in part on evidence of organized religious lobbying for the stickers, which was disputed on appeal, leading the appellate court to send the case back to Judge Cooper for reconsideration. He should better document the extent of religious activism in promoting the sticker, the appeals court ruled. By doing so, the appellate court reconfirmed the critical importance of religion in this long-running legal dispute.
    Although Judge Cooper did not expand on the point in his original decision, he identified the religious group that benefited by the sticker as “Christian fundamentalists and creationists,” not theists generally. 10 Many people see the controversy this way, which helps to explain its depth. Millions of American Christians and members of other religious traditions accept the theory of evolution. For some theologically liberal Christians, evolution is central to their religious worldview. Even many theologically conservative Protestants and Catholics accept organic evolution as God’s means of creation. They see no conflict between it and a high view of scripture. Theistic theories of evolution have a long and distinguished pedigree within evangelical Christian theology. Some thought that by cautioning students against all theories of evolution, the Cobb County school board had lined up on one side of a dispute among religious believers and so unconstitutionally entangled church and state. Judge Cooper agreed, and held this as a second legal basis for disallowing use of the stickers.
    The Dover case also involved school guidelines built on the ID argument that students should be told that evolution is a controversial and unproven theory. “The theory is not a fact,” the Dover disclaimer stated. “Gaps in the theory exist for which there is not evidence.” This alone conveyed an unconstitutional endorsement of a religious viewpoint, the court ruled. Unlike the Cobb County sticker, however, the statement read to Dover students added, “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.” This text, the court found, contained creationist religious material, including the affirmation that basic kinds of living things (such as birds and fish) were separately created. As such, its use in public schools violated the constitutional bar against religious instruction. 11
    The decision went further, though. During a six-week trial, Judge John Jones heard extensive testimony on intelligent design to determine whether it could be presented as an alternative explanation of origins in a public school science class. Here his decision broke new ground. “After a searching review of the record and applicable case law,” Judge Jones ruled, “we find that