It was a tremendous defeat for the intelligent design movement when Judge John E. Jones III ruled that a school board violated the constitution by requiring the teaching of the theory as an alternative to evolution. In a 139 page ruling Judge Jones presented such eloquent arguments against the intelligent design movement that I cannot add anything of value to his writing. If you have not read excerpts of his ruling in your local newspaper, please do so. Basically Judge Jones points out that intelligent design is not science and should not be taught to students as such. He also said that the school board members lied to disguise their real purpose which is the promotion of religion.
The interesting thing about this is that Judge Jones is a church going conservative appointed by President Bush. So the intelligent design movement cannot claim bias against religion. It is also heartening to me because I believe that there are courageous and ethical people who do not go with the party line but are independent thinkers. My gut feeling is that the two most recent Supreme Court nominees, Judges Roberts and Alito, will not be as conservative as people think they are. It is obvious that they are well qualified and are extremely intelligent. I believe that while I may not agree with all of their rulings they will be fair-minded about each case that come before them. Of course they can be the next Scalia or Ginsburg, well qualified but totally predictable in how they rule. Worse, they can be another Thomas who is predictable and not even qualified. Anyways, this ruling by Judge Jones give me a little more hope that Judges Roberts and Alito will follow the law rather than follow personal beliefs.
Monday, December 26, 2005
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WOW! I had not heard of this ruling. My friend Eric and I had this talk about "Intelligent Design" and agreed that it was propaganda being forced upon the education system by the right wingers. I applaude Judge Jones for not succumbing to party lines and making an unbiased decision. If you have the ruling handy please feel free to post it or send it to me. As far as the confirmation hearings and the filibuster that will undoubtedly happen, it is once again grand standing by the opposite side of the aisle so that they can say they oppose all that the other side stands for.
ReplyDeleteAs far as religion in schools go. I am not totally against it as long as everyone can share their religions equally. I would assume that if prayer were aloud in schools that if you were a muslim in a predominately christian school you would not be discriminated against for practicing your belief. If those that are for prayer in school are against other faiths then they need to step back and let things be the way they are.
This leads me to Kinky Friedman, who is running for governor in Texas. I like the idea of an independent running for office. The guy seems a little crazy and I'm not sure if he is qualified but he's a breath of fresh air in the political system. If I lived in Texas I don't know if I would necessarily vote for him but he's definitely making his point. And I've agreed with quite a few things he's said. Whether or not he's serious about his campaign, only time will tell.
LBOAYM