The Legal Ramifications of Evolution vs Creation
The Controversy Spills Over Into the Courtroom and Classroom
Jul 18, 2009
What has been dubbed the evolution vs creationism controversy is a dispute about the origins of the universe and the Earth and the development and diversity of life including humans on the Earth. The clash is between fundamentalist Christians who propose that a divine power (God) created the universe and all things in it. Evolutionists see things differently and it is these differing interpretations over the same evidence results in a conflict that spills over into many facets of society – science, politics, culture, religion, legal matters, and education.
A History of Disagreement and Debate
Publication of Charles Darwin's “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection” in 1859 marked the beginning of the controversy. As Darwin feared, his work was rejected by many as anti-social and especially anti-religious and it ignited a firestorm of controversy and misunderstanding that continues to this day.
In the United States during Darwin's time, creationism was widely accepted and was considered a fundamental truth. There appears to have been little or no official resistance to evolution by mainstream religious denominations of the time. However, for various reasons, the aftermath of WWI saw an awakening and eventual groundswell of opposition to the concept of naturalistic evolution.
The Controversy Moves to the Courtroom and Legislative Chambers
In the early 1920's, after intense campaigning, William Jennings Bryan, former Secretary of State and Democratic party nominee for president, convinced several states to introduce legislation prohibiting the teaching of evolution. By 1925, similar legislation was being considered in 15 states, and some states, such as Tennessee, passed such legislation.
On May 5, 1925, in what was popularly known as the Scopes Monkey Trial, Dayton, Tennessee biology teacher John T. Scopes was found guilty of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act, which made it unlawful in any state-funded educational establishment in Tennessee, "to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals."
When the Scopes case was appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court the Court overturned the decision on a technicality but upheld the constitutionality of the Butler Act. As a result of that ruling, the teaching of evolution remained illegal in Tennessee, and this in turn sparked a nation-wide campaign that succeeded in removing evolution from school textbooks throughout the United States.
The Scopes trial was but the first in a number of land mark legal cases pitting evolution against creationism:
Epperson v. Arkansas
In 1968, the United States Supreme Court overturned a forty-year-old Arkansas statute that prohibited the teaching of evolution in the public schools. The Court held that the United States Constitution prohibits a state from requiring "that teaching and learning must be tailored to the principles or prohibitions of any religious sect or dogma.” However, this decision did open the door to allow creationism to be taught in addition to evolution.
Daniel v. Waters
Daniel v. Waters was a 1975 legal case in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit struck down Tennessee's law regarding the teaching of "equal time" of evolution and creationism in public school science classes because it violated the Establishment clause of the US Constitution. This ruling prompted a faction of creationists to rework creationism from a religious belief into a more scientific account of things. This revamped explanation was labeled creation science.
Edwards v. Aguillard
In the early 1980s, the Louisiana legislature passed a law titled the "Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science in Public School Instruction Act". This act did not demand that evolution or creationism be taught but did require that when evolution was taught, creation science had to be taught as well.
In 1987 the Supreme Court of the United States overturned this Louisiana act as unconstitutional on the grounds that the law was specifically intended to advance a particular religion. At the same time, however, the court stated in its opinion that "teaching a variety of scientific theories about the origins of humankind to school children might be validly done with the clear secular intent of enhancing the effectiveness of science instruction.” This presented an opportunity that was quickly realized by proponents of creation science to evolve their arguments into a new version of scientific creationism that came to be known as Intelligent Design.
The Controversy Continues
In May, 2005, the Discovery Institute, in a campaign to introduce Intelligent Design to school classrooms, convinced the Kansas State Board of Education to adopt the institute's Critical Analysis of Evolution lesson plans over the objections of the State Board Science Hearing Committee. This “equal treatment” approach was struck down in February, 2007.
And the controversy continues. The proponents of Intelligent Design continue to seek any legal openings that will force equal treatment in the classroom while scientists challenge those legal maneuverings at every turn.
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