Creationism Falls From Kern County School Curriculum

[Soldier4Christ]

By Ann M. Simmons, Times Staff Writer

FRESNO -- A creationism class was canceled this morning by a public school district in the town of Lebec that promised never again to schedule such a course in its classrooms.

The El Tejon Unified School District agreed to discontinue the class, which used creationist materials that insist that the biblical Book of Genesis is literally true and is scientific.

Opponents challenged the four-week course as an "infomercial for creationism" that violated the constitutionally-ordered separation of church and state.

The school district, in a statement, said it could not afford to fight the lawsuit.

"It was very difficult for the school board to make this decision. Neither the school board or its employees have promoted any religious belief in any academic setting. The idea was to have an open discussion of the different points of views on the origin of life, a philosophical exercise in critical thinking," according to the statement.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the teaching of creationism in public schools in 1987, and a federal judge in Pennsylvania last month found an intelligent design course to be banned by the decision.

The Kern County district was sued last week by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, legally challenging the course taught at Frazier Mountain High School in Lebec by special education teacher and soccer coach.

In a formal legal document circulated by the plaintiff, the district agreed to "terminate and discontinue" the course and promised not to schedule "any other course that promotes or endorses creationism, creation science, or intelligent design."

A clerk for U.S. District Judge Oliver M. Wanger in Fresno said this morning that the lawsuit had been settled.

"Public schools have no business promoting religion," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. "I hope that other public schools learn from this incident and reject efforts to bring religious doctrines into classrooms."

Americans United represented local parents who opposed the course for its promotion of religious concepts.

"This course was far from intelligently designed," said Americans United Legal Director Ayesha N. Khan. "It was an infomercial for creationism and its offshoot, intelligent design."

Last month, Americans United and the Pennsylvania ACLU won a decisive victory over "intelligent design" advocates in a case from Dover, Pa. In that legal action, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III ruled that intelligent design is not science and ordered it removed from the Dover schools.

The El Tejon case, AU maintained, was even more problematic because it relied heavily on "young-earth" creationist materials that insist that the biblical Book of Genesis is literally true and scientific — a view held by many fundamentalists but rejected by other Christians.

By permitting the course, the El Tejon district was elevating the fundamentalist Christian viewpoint over others and misrepresenting religious concepts as scientific, Americans United asserted in legal documents.

A group of parents sued El Tejon Unified School District for violating the constitutional separation of church and state because the course advanced the theory that life is so complex it must have been created by God.

"The course was designed to advance religious theories on the origins of life, including creationism and its offshoot, 'intelligent design,'" said the lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court.

The high school in the Tehachapi Mountains about 75 miles north of Los Angeles draws 500 students from a dozen small communities.


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Americans United for Separation of Church and State founded in 1947 is an organization that sides with the ACLU in many cases. It's name is a misnomer just as the ACLU's is. It should be Atheists for the Exclusion of the Christian Faith.

[Shammu]

Well I told y'all about it earlier, here it is the Anti Christian Lawless Union ..............................

Groups Sue to Stop Domestic Spying Program

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 7 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Two lawsuits were filed Tuesday in federal court that seek to end President Bush's electronic eavesdropping program, saying it is illegal and exceeds his constitutional powers.

The lawsuits — one filed in New York by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the other in Detroit by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups — say the program bypasses safeguards in a 1978 law requiring court approval of electronic monitoring.

The Center for Constitutional Rights is suing Bush, the head of the National Security Agency and the heads of the other major security agencies.

The organization, which represents hundreds of men held as enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, must now audit old communications to determine whether "anything was disclosed that might undermine our representation of our clients," said Bill Goodman, the center's director.

The Detroit lawsuit, which names the National Security Agency and its director, said the program has impaired plaintiffs' ability to gather information from sources abroad as they try to locate witnesses, represent clients, do research or engage in advocacy.

It was filed by the ACLU, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Greenpeace and individuals on behalf of journalists, scholars, attorneys and national nonprofit organizations that communicate with people in the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere.

A spokesman for the Justice Department disputed the lawsuits' assertions.

"We believe these cases are without merit and plan to vigorously defend against the charges," Brian Roehrkasse said.

A message left with the National Security Agency was not immediately returned.

Bush maintains the program is legal under a congressional resolution passed after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It authorizes eavesdropping on international phone calls and e-mails of people deemed terror risks.

The New York lawsuit noted that federal law already lets the president order warrantless surveillance during the first 15 days of a war and allows courts to authorize surveillance of agents of foreign powers or terrorist groups.

The 1978 law requiring court approval was established after public fury erupted over surveillance of individuals, including Martin Luther King Jr.

"I'm personally outraged that my confidential communication with my clients may have been listened to by the U.S. government," said Rachel Meeropol, an attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Attorneys have long relied on privacy to gather facts to ensure fair trials, lawyer Josh Dratel said in a statement supporting the ACLU case. He has represented people accused of terrorism-related crimes.

"That comfort level no longer exists, and it has sent a chill through the legal community," he said.

The program will further isolate U.S. social scientists, journalists and researchers from those who report on political developments or human rights abuses, said Larry Diamond, a Stanford University professor and plaintiff in the ACLU lawsuit.

"One reason why the United States is held in such low esteem ... today is because we are seen as hypocritical," he said. "We vow to promote individual freedom as the central purpose of foreign policy, and then we violate individual freedom with this secret warrantless surveillance."