Charleston Daily Mail | Lawsuit claims evolution is a religion

A parent of a Jefferson County student has filed a federal lawsuit against local, state and federal education officials claiming the teaching of evolution, which he says is a religion, violates his child’s Constitutional rights.

Kenneth Smith, who is representing himself, filed the four-page federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia against the Jefferson County Board of Education, state Superintendent Michael Martirano, National Institute of Health director Francis Collins, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the U.S. Department of Education.

“His complaint is against all Defendants, who’ve fostered the propagation of religious faith in our West Virginia public school machinery and government at large,” the May 12 lawsuit said.

Smith alleged education officials violated the U.S. Constitution because he claimed they are “propagating” a religious faith in public schools.

“Their actions during the 2014-2015 school year affects my child’s future directly through the state grading system to enter college and the ability to earn economic security and a good job in her chosen veterinarian medical field of work, by being taught a faith base (evolutionary ideology) that just doesn’t exist and has no math to back it,” Smith’s lawsuit said.

That is the gist of Smith's case, but scrolling through the comments a few things piqued my interest.  One is his 2013 book entitled The True Origin of Man, with some comments wondering if this case in "just" a PR stunt to increase Smith's sales.


As the NCSE notes in their write up,

Absent from the complaint is any mention of the relevant case law. In McLean v. Arkansas (1982), for example, the court commented, “it is clearly established in the case law, and perhaps also in common sense, that evolution is not a religion and that teaching evolution does not violate the Establishment Clause.”

Similarly, in Peloza v. Capistrano School District (1994), the court characterized the Supreme Court’s decision in Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) as holding “unequivocally that while the belief in a divine creator of the universe is a religious belief, the scientific theory that higher forms of life evolved from lower forms is not.”

In other words, Smith has no case.  As exemplified by a more recent case that took place in Kansas:

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that science standards for Kansas public schools promote atheism and violate the religious freedoms of students and parents.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree ruled Tuesday that a nonprofit group and individuals challenging the standards did not claim specific enough injuries to allow the case to go forward.

According to Americans United,

In its court filing, COPE argued that the science standards are “causing Kansas public schools to establish and endorse a non-theistic religious worldview…” in violation of the First Amendment.

COPE said the curriculum is coercing “impressionable children… into the religious sphere by leading them to ask ultimate questions like what is the cause and nature of life in the universe – ‘where do we come from?’”

COPE argued that these are “religious questions” and that the science curriculum is unconstitutionally indoctrinating students in a “materialistic/atheist” worldview, which is invalid because “science has not answered these religious questions…” about how life began.

Everything about that argument is flawed. Contemplating the origin of life on this planet is not an inherently religious question that is unfit for children to ponder. And science has done a fine job of unlocking the mysteries of the universe – despite COPE’s claim to the contrary. Evolution may be a theory but no legitimate scientists question its validity. Thus learning the facts of that theory is not “indoctrination.” It’s called education.

All this highlights an article I posted four days ago,

One point of consensus exits among science education researchers: Religion affects how people understand evolution. “The role of religion is really robust,” said Josh Rosenau, a programs and policy director for the National Center for Science Education. “I have no question that a person’s view of their own religion shapes how that person is prepared to respond to questions about evolution.”

What it all comes down to, if creationism had any legitimacy its proponents would never have to resort to the force of law to get it into the classroom.

Charleston Daily Mail | Lawsuit claims evolution is a religion


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