PBS Telling Teachers to Violate First Amendment?
Posted on November 13, 2007
Airing on PBS tonight at 8 p.m. is “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial”, a two hour documentary that tells the story of the Dover case. The ACLU are super-excited!
Of all of the cases the ACLU has taken on in the last few years, our challenge to the promotion of “intelligent design” in Dover, Pennsylvania’s public schools is one that truly speaks volumes about our work – work that ACLU supporters like you make possible.
That is why I wanted to let you know about an upcoming program highlighting this landmark case.
Here is a preview:
I won’t know how objective the documetary itself is until I watch it, however a recent move by PBS has one group up in arms:
A packet for educators issued by the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) in conjunction with the NOVA program “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial” encourages teaching practices that are probably unconstitutional, a conservative organization stated on Tuesday.
“The NOVA/PBS teaching guide encourages the injection of religion into classroom teaching about evolution in a way that likely would violate current Supreme Court precedents about the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause,” said John West, vice president for public policy and legal affairs at the Discovery Institute, in a news release.
The 22-page document is a companion piece to the two-hour NOVA docudrama, “Judgment Day,” airing on most network affiliates Tuesday night. The film is about a trial concerning intelligent design that took place in Dover, Pa., in 2005.
The guide claims to provide teachers with “easily digestible information to guide and support you in facing challenges to evolution.”
In the booklet, teachers are instructed to use such discussion questions as: “Can you accept evolution and still believe in religion?” The answer to that query is provided as: “Yes. The common view that evolution is inherently antireligious is simply false.”
So, does this blanket answer cover all religions? It doesn’t seem to be a very neutral answer to different religions to me. The question that comes up then is, does it violate current interpretation of the Establishment Clause cited so much by the left?
Government in our democracy, state and national, must be neutral in matters of religious theory, doctrine, and practice. It may not be hostile to any religion or to the advocacy of no-religion; and it may not aid, foster, or promote one religion or religious theory against another or even against the militant opposite. The First Amendment mandates governmental neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion.
More from the article:
“This statement is simplistic and not neutral among different religions, and in that sense arguably inconsistent with Supreme Court teachings concerning neutrality,” said attorney Casey Luskin, program officer for public policy and legal affairs at the institute.
“The Supreme Court ruled in Epperson v. Arkansas that the government must maintain ‘neutrality between religion and religion,’” said Randal Wenger, a Pennsylvania attorney who filed amicus briefs in the Kitzmiller v. Dover School District case.
“Because the briefing packet only promotes religious viewpoints that are friendly towards evolution, this is not neutral, and PBS is encouraging teachers to violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause,” Wenger added.
In its news release, the Discovery Institute indicates that it has enlisted more than a dozen attorneys and legal scholars, including Wenger, to review the PBS teaching guide with an eye to its constitutionality.
“The PBS materials, in suggesting that students need not be concerned that evolution violates their religion, ironically equip public school teachers to violate our current conception of the First Amendment by explicitly teaching students concerning matters of religious belief,” Wenger said.
So, is PBS encouraging teachers to violate the First Amendment? I don’t know, but it sounds like the Discovery Institute has a good case. Interesting to say the least.
My friend William Teach talks about this one too.
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, ACLU, News, Video
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9 Responses to “PBS Telling Teachers to Violate First Amendment?”
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So What! Teaching evolution(Atheist/deist theory of creation) in schools is a violation of the current interpretation(lie) about the separation of church and state and the courts allow it. The federal courts are corrupt. The question is whose point of view that corruption favors.
evolution is not religion..it is science…religion is something that should be taught at home ,in churchorin a religious school..people who are not into it are tired of others thying to preach to them..if you beleive that stuff fine..BUT LEAVE US OUT OF IT!!!!!
Just keep telling yourself that, Pat. I happen to worship a creator, as recorded in the history book written by Moses, which we refer to as “Genesis”. Three of the world’s largest religions recognize this book and accept it as written by Moses. Darwin was an uneducated man and was raised an atheist by his grandfather. “Macro-evolution” has never had one ounce of proof, while “Micro-evolution” or adaptation is widely accepted as fact, yet it’s pushed on our schools to accept both theories as fact. “Science” is based on peer review and accepting criticism from other points of view, yet we aren’t allowed to point out the flaws in evolution, which proves it’s not scientific at all, but faith based.
Here’s the briefing in question (1.5MB for any dial-ups): http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/media/nova-id-briefing.pdf
The question that the DI has a problem with is on page 10 under the FAQ section. This doesn’t seem to be a violation at all but instead is intended to help teachers answer similar questions. I doubt this will cause any problems.
Pat,
You are an adherent of a religion that wants to force your religion on others so you deny it is a religion that does not mean it is not one. Evolution is based on belief just like everything else that humans believe and that makes it a religion. In short I do not believe in your religion and do not want to support it in any way or form. By the way religion is a science because it uses the same methodology of science but a different media.
This is wrong Tom.
There is abundant proof of so-called “macro evolution”. Actually, every piece of biological evidence ever found agrees with it, and none refute it. There’s barely anything in science that you can say that about.
The problem is, people refuse to take the time to learn what evo is and is not – but they don’t want that to limit their pontifications.
A little humility or a little work, please. One or the other.
“By the way religion is a science because it uses the same methodology of science but a different media.”
This might be the dumbest sentence ever assembled….
Thank you, Steve. Coming to this site is like going to the zoo to watch the monkeys.
“Thank you, Steve. Coming to this site is like going to the zoo to watch the monkeys…”
…and being too stupid to comprehend the meaning of “Do not Feed the Animals.”