September 2005

Harrisburg, PA – In the second morning of testimony in the ACLU’s lawsuit against a Dover, Pennsylvania school district, Darwinist Kenneth Miller conceded that in one sense he was a creationist, since he attributed the laws of physics and chemistry to an “author of all things, seen and unseen.” He read back a portion of the testimony he gave when he served as a fact witness in the Cobb County, Georgia textbook sticker case, in which he defined creationism in its narrow, contemporary sense as a view arguing for a young earth (6-10,000 years) , six 24-hour days of creation by a supernatural being, and a geological record largely explained by a global flood. In this morning’s testimony, Miller conceded Read More ›

Good Morning America today aired a story by reporter Dan Harris about Discovery Institute and its role in the national debate over evolution. More than a month ago ABC News approached Discovery Institute with a request to sit down and interview CSC Director Stephen Meyer. We were hesitant based on previous run-ins with other ABC News crews, namely Nightline. They’ve done rather poor jobs on reporting about evolution and intelligent design in the recent past. So, we spoke at length with the producers about what sort of story they were doing and what their focus was and what Meyer’s role would be.

HARRISBURG, PA — The first day of testimony in the ACLU’s lawsuit against the Dover, Pennsylvania school district ended today with the defense beginning their cross-examination of leading Darwinist Kenneth Miller.

How long has it been since a leading evolutionist subjected himself to cross-examination on the witness stand? In the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial in the 1920s, the Darwinist, Clarence Darrow, used a procedural trick to cross examine his opponent while himself avoiding cross-examination. The vast majority of Darwinists routinely duck full and fair exchanges. Kenneth Miller should be applauded for bucking this duck-the-debate tactic.

Harrisburg, PA — A question at the heart of the first day of testimony in Kitzmiller vs. Dover is whether it is illegal to teach intelligent design in the public school science classroom. That’s the question legal expert Francis Beckwith tackles here.

HARRISBURG, PA — The ACLU’s lawsuit against a Dover, Pennsylvania school district began today with biologist and evolutionist Kenneth Miller taking the stand as the first witness. The school district’s policy calls for administrators to read a brief statement to biology students indicating that Darwinism is a theory, and that if students want to learn about a contrary explanation for the origin of living things, they can find a supplementary science textbook, Of Pandas and People, in the school library. The plaintiff is arguing that this violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibiting the establishment of a religion because intelligent design is merely the creationism that was on trial in the Supreme Court decision, Edwards vs. Aguillard (1987), where the court ruled that Louisiana could not mandate equal-time teaching of biblical creationism.

This week the newsmedia converge on Harrisburg, PA for the opening of the Dover School District intelligent design trial. As readers of this blog know already, the ACLU has sued the Dover School District for notifying students about the existence of the theory of intelligent design (ID). Although Discovery Institute doesn’t favor Dover’s policy (see here for why), we strongly oppose the ACLU’s heavy-handed effort to shut down even voluntary classroom discussions of ID through government censorship. We hope to provide daily coverage and analysis of the trial on this blog, and we’ve dispatched Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Jonathan Witt to Harrisburg this week to file eyetwitness reports. (For complete background information about the Dover case, check the informational web page we’ve set up here.)

What remains to be seen is how accurately—or not—the major media will cover the trial. As you read the newsmedia reports this week, watch carefully to see how frequently the following myths about intelligent design and the critics of Darwinism are reported as “facts”:

Just in time for Monday’s thought-crime trial in Dover, Pennsylvania, H. Wayne House has an extensive review here of cases in the U.S. dealing with Darwinism and the public schools: “Darwinism and the Law: Can Non-Naturalistic Scientific Theories Survive Constitutional Challenge?” It’s an excellent resource for anyone covering the trial, though I could quibble with a few elements. For instance, if House means to include contemporary design arguments in biology, it would be more precise to say “Non-Materialist Scientific Theories.”

I’ll be flying to Harrisburg, PA to cover the Dover trial. It begins in federal court Monday. As Discovery Institute explains here:

In Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, the ACLU is suing the school board of Dover, Pennsylvania for adopting a policy that requires students to be informed about the theory of intelligent design. The ACLU claims that the Dover policy violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by promoting a religious doctrine.

What does the Dover policy consist of? Administrators read the following statement to biology students:

CSC senior fellow Jonathan Witt will be dispatched to Pennsylvania to cover the Dover intelligent design trial that starts on Monday in federal court in Harrisburg. He will attend the opening three days of the trial, but will continue to post reports throughout the trial until its conclusion, sometime in October.

I suspect we will see a slew of articles about the looming Dover ID trial, slated to start on Monday in federal court in Harrisburg, PA. MSNBC’s Alex Johnson has one of the best ID related news stories, Dover trial or otherwise. His definitions of the key terms, and his examination of the various issues involved are thorough and accurate. One of the better news reports related to ID.