ANN ARBOR, Michigan, January 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A federal district court judge has ruled that a two-sentence sticker added to public school textbooks containing lessons on evolution in Cobb County, Georgia, is unconstitutional. The sticker reads: “This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered.”“This decision makes the theory of evolution the Sacred Cow of the public school system,” Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, said Thursday. “According to the decision, any criticism of Darwin’s theory in a public school biology classroom endorses ‘religion’ in violation of the federal constitution, and therefore must be prohibited. For the sake of good science education, this ruling must be appealed.” In his ruling Thursday, Federal Judge Clarence Cooper concluded that the school board had non- religious reasons for adopting the sticker, and that the sticker served the legitimate secular goal of “fostering critical thinking.” Yet he held the sticker was unconstitutional because it described evolution as a “theory” and not fact, and that some people might perceive the school to be aligning itself with Christians who criticize Darwin’s theory from a religious perspective. “This decision is bad law, bad for education, and ultimately bad for students who are purposely kept in the dark about the growing scientific controversy over the Theory of Evolution,” Thompson concluded.
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