The University of Kansas is planning to teach a course on intelligent design
next semester. But it's not a science class. It is a religious-studies
class, and it's titled, "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design,
Creationism and other Religious Mythologies." (The chairman of the
department, in explaining the class, said this, "Creationism is mythology .
. . Intelligent design is mythology. It's not science. They try to make it
sound like science. It clearly is not.") It's the next step in the
intelligent design/evolution fight.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051122/ap_on_re_us/intelligent_design_course
Does anyone on the listserv see a potential Establishment Clause problem
here? Let me be provocative. Surely, the University of Kansas cannot teach
that intelligent design is false, right? Government cannot pass directly on
the truth or falsity of religious teaching. The University's teaching of ID
as "myth" seems to suggest that it will teach (or at least imply) that ID is
false. (Surely, no one would miss the point if some professor taught a
class entitled, "Special Topics in Religion: Christianity and other
Religious Mythologies" or "Wicca: How Could It Be Something Other Than
Mythology?") To the extent the class teaches ID is false, it is
unconstitutional, no?
The conclusion that this class is unconstitutional will surely be embraced
by those who support intelligent design. And this the counterintuitive
point: shouldn't it also be embraced by those who are earnest opponents of
it? After all, opponents of ID object to it principally because they see it
as inherently religious. It's therefore unconstitutional when taught by the
government as true. But doesn't the same principle act to protect ID from
being taught by the government as false? (The obvious analogy is perhaps
prayer - the government should have no power to encourage it, but also
should have no power to discourage it.)
Chris Lund
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