HOME |NEWS |EXPLORE BY SUBJECT |LAST WORD |SUBSCRIBE |SEARCH |ARCHIVE |RSS |JOBSClick to PrintJudge rules against ‘intelligent design‘ in class17:37 20 December 2005 NewScientist.com news service Kurt KleinerPennsylvania science teachers will not be forced to advocate "intelligent design" after a judge ruled that that the theory is really religion in disguise.Judge John Jones of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruled that intelligent design - which bills itself as a scientific theory and states that life shows signs of being the work of an intelligent designer - is in fact reworked creationism.The decision comes after 11 parents sued the Dover High School Board of Education for requiring that biology students be read a statement that cast doubt on evolution and endorsed intelligent design. Eight of the nine school board members were voted out of office in November, but the case continued in the court.In his decision, Jones systematically dismantled the arguments of the proponents of intelligent design. Jones said that the history of intelligent design shows that it is essentially creationism with explicit references to God and the Bible removed. As such, it is primarily a religious theory, not a scientific one, and cannot be taught in US public schools, which are prevented from promoting religion.Intentionally misleadingJones also said that language in the school board statement that evolution is only a "theory" is misleading. It confuses the scientific and colloquial meanings of "theory". And by singling out evolution from all other scientific theories it suggests that there is some special doubt about the truth of evolution.The judge stated that intelligent design cannot be considered science for a number of reasons. By depending on a supernatural cause it violates the basic ground rules of science that have been in place since the 16th century.He also found that intelligent design relies on the "false dualism" that if evolution can be disproven, then intelligent design is proven. In any case, he found that intelligent design‘s criticisms of evolution have been largely refuted.Check back tomorrow for more news and analyis of the verdict.Related ArticlesIntelligent Design trial is overhttp://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18825252.200 12 November 2005Kansas backs intelligent design in science lessonshttp://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8289 09 November 2005God goes to court in all but namehttp://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18825234.300 31 October 2005WeblinksJudge Jones‘ decisionhttp://www.pamd.uscourts.gov/kitzmiller/kitzmiller_342.pdfIntelligent design, American Civil Liberties Unionhttp://www.aclu.org/religion/intelligentdesign/The Discovery Institutehttp://www.discovery.org/Close this windowPrinted on Wed Dec 21 08:17:55 GMT 2005
