Arguments conclude in evolution sticker trial

<p>Attorneys for both sides of a challenge to evolution disclaimers on science books in a suburban Atlanta school district made their final pleas before a federal judge Friday.</p><p>Attorneys for Cobb County, which is being sued by several parents for stickers on the cover of biology books that call evolution "a theory, not a fact," argued the stickers were meant to encourage tolerance.</p><p>Lawyers for the parents maintained the sticker amounts to a government-sanctioned question mark about the theory _ which is only challenged on religious grounds.</p><p>"The Cobb County school board is doing more than accommodating religion," argued American Civil Liberties lawyer Michael Manely. "They are promoting religious dogma to all students."</p><p>Cobb County's school board placed the disclaimers on biology texts two years ago, after more than 2,000 parents complained the books presented evolution as fact without mentioning rival ideas about the origin of life.</p><p>Friday's arguments concluded a weeklong trial before U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper. Attorneys are still filing paperwork in the case and lawyers expect Cooper to take at least a month to hand down a ruling.</p><p>Throughout the week, teachers and scientists _ including the author of one of the county's biology texts _ testified that evolution is the foundation for much of modern science. By officially questioning it, they said, Cobb County's school board wrongly introduces religious debate into its teaching.</p><p>Other teachers and parents disputed that interpretation.</p><p>On Friday, Linwood Gunn, an attorney for the county, described the sticker as a good-faith effort by the school board to promote tolerance and address questions that inevitably arise during evolution's teaching.</p><p>"Science and religion are related and they're not mutually exclusive," Gunn said. "This sticker was an effort to get past that conflict and to teach good science."</p><p>The stickers read, "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."</p><p>Manely argued that scientists officially consider all of their ideas theories.</p><p>"Maybe we need some more stickers," he said, showing Cooper a series of tongue-in-cheek stickers that questioned scientific theories like gravity and the fact that the earth rotates around the sun.</p><p>"Of all the theories in all the world that are taught in Cobb County classrooms, only evolution is disclaimed," he said.</p><p>Gunn described a "natural friction" between evolution's teaching and some students' religious beliefs that makes the teaching of evolution different from other science lessons.</p><p>"I will grant you there are some people that (a sticker) may create some doubt in their mind," Gunn said. "The fact that it promulgates doubt, if that's true, does not mean that it promotes religion."</p><p>Jeffrey Selman, one of the parents who filed the lawsuit, said he wanted to ensure his son got a good education, but that protecting the separation between public schools and religious teaching was his real goal.</p><p>"This is not just about him," Selman said. "It's about all of us."</p><p>Parent Marjorie Rogers, who started the drive to put the stickers in the books, said she was pleased the issue is getting a hearing but is not confident the judge's ruling will go in her favor.</p><p>"I'm just disappointed it's turned into a 'science vs. religion' debate," said Rogers, who described herself as "a six-day, literal Bible creationist" during testimony. "There are other scientific theories out there other than Darwinian evolution."</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/11/156948