The verdict: http://www.georgiascience.org/news-georgia.htm
I (somewhat) recently wrote a post siting that they were going to court over disclaimer stickers in biology textbooks that stated that:
“This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.”
The website noted above gives the Atlanta Journal's write-up in which it gives a little more insight to the decision. I wanted to post some of the information from the judge as well as give my interpretation of it. It won't change anything but maybe it'll help me understand what exactly happened.
Cooper said it is his belief that such an observer "would interpret the sticker to convey a message of endorsement of religion. That is, the sticker sends a message to those who oppose evolution for religious reasons that they are favored members of the political community, while the sticker sends a message to those who believe in evolution that they are political outsiders."
This is particularly true, Cooper added, when it involves "impressionable public school students who are likely to view the message on the sticker as a union of church and state."
Apparently the view held by almost everyone is that if you don't believe in evolution, you believe in something else. That something else has to be Christianity according to everyone who's commented and even this judge. Truth of the matter is it's not. Just because you don't believe in something doesn't mean that you “align with the other side“. There aren't 2 sides to this debate, there's multiple sides.
Cooper noted that "there is no evidence" in the case that the school board included in the disclaimer that "evolution is a theory, not a fact" to promote or advance religion. "Still, the informed, reasonable observer would perceive the school board to be aligning itself with proponents of religious theories of origin," Cooper said.
There's no evidence claiming that it is fact which is what the sticker also mentioned. A theory simply is a “very good guess“ in layman's terms (though I know people would love picking me apart for that analysis) but not stating that evolution is a “very good guess“ seems wrong in my book. Then again I'm not a judge nor do I run the school board. I guess that's good news for a lot of people (myself included).
But Cooper took pains to say his opinion only resolves "a legal dispute." It does not, he wrote, resolve whether science and religion are mutually exclusive and he "takes no position on the origin of the species." Cooper also said that the decision is not about whether public school teachers can teach intelligent design and does not resolve the "ongoing debate regarding whether evolution is a fact or theory or whether evolution should be taught as fact or theory."
I just wanted to state that as the obvious reason which makes some sense though I don't understand how church and state has anything to do with this. This is not about creationism or something else it's about evolution, pure and simple.
The plaintiffs' attorney, Michael Manely, during the trial hit hard on the fact that a scientific theory is not the same as "theory" applied in everyday life. He called on several scientists to testify to that effect, including biologist and textbook author Kenneth Miller.
Miller, of Brown University in Rhode Island, explained, "In science, you don't use the word 'theory' about a stupid hunch. Theories explain facts. They tie it together."
Scientific theory is different than what most people perceive as the word theory and I will agree there. Theories give a “very good guess” about “proposed” facts or the better term would be evidence. In many cases the facts are only made so because they align with a particular theory. Theories are a road map for evidence to be included as fact but any two scientists can look at the same evidence and draw completely different conclusions. So the evolution theory gives a very good guess to the origins of the evidence of life. It claims this evidence as fact, which aligns itself with the theory. Without the theory to support it, those “facts” would only be evidence and it would leave the reader/scientist the task of putting the pieces together. That's a much better approach than saying “My way is right!” wouldn't you agree?
Students are no longer allowed to opt out of classroom discussion involving evolution, and the theory must be taught as directed by law.
The school system's previous policy urged evolution not be taught because it could be "inconsistent with family teachings." The Cobb school district as recently as 10 years ago cut out from science textbooks pages that involved evolution, according to court testimony. School officials also testified they had not received an increased number of complaints since the disclaimers were placed in the textbooks.
That brings this whole debate into a whole new light. The reason the stickers were put on the textbooks is so that everyone would be required to learn evolution. Now students must participate in classroom discussions and learn the theory. No longer will “inconsistent with family teachings” get you out of class or allow you to opt out of discussion.
Now that I learned of this it makes sense for the stickers to be in there and stay. Otherwise why shouldn't they go back to the old way of doing things? The sticker seemed to be a lovely ploy to keep Cobb moving towards the “evolution or nothing” bandwagon and now that the ball is rolling it looks like it won't stop until it's over. I guess that's good news for some.
I forgot to think about the most important aspect of all of this: children. Children know how to logically collect the dots and if something doesn't align with what they feel, they'll challenge it. Seems a lot of people want to tell our children how to learn but I'm a firm believer that children will learn for themselves far more than if we forced them. I guess only time will tell if I'm on the right path or if public school systems will get better as time progresses. I won't hold my breath for either though.
Update: Fixed lame font problems (I'm anal) and I actually added an excerpt. (Woo the first couple of paragraphs)