The ACLU strikes again

This time it’s in Georgia. The offense being whistle-blown? A sticker placed in Cobb County School District science textbooks that says that evolution is “a theory, not a fact.” What’s wrong with that? Yeah, I know, the whole a-scientific-theory-is-different-than-other-kinds-of-theory thing. Still, there is nothing non-factual about that statement. And nothing there at all about belief or religion.

Yet District Court Judge Clarence Cooper wrote in today’s decision that, "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."

What?! Since when is the law concerned with political favoritism? Since when does political favoritism, or assumed political favoritism, have anything to do with “separation of church and state?” Oh, I forgot, we’ve fallen through the looking-glass. And I guess the political climate hasn’t been so threatening the last two-and-a-half years -- why else the delay in filing suit?

Says Rabbi Scott Saulson, a board member of the ACLU of Georgia, "People who wish faith to compete with science are asking faith to be judged by the same standards as theory, which is a standard of reasonable proof. Faith is unique in that it is not predicated upon proof. To continue to mask religious belief as science will sooner or later besmirch both faith and religion."

Huh? Was there something on that sticker about faith? Once again we have someone failing to understand that, philosophically, religious faith and the underpinnings of interpretation of scientific data are in the same realm. (which was discussed in this comment thread)

*sigh* I’m afraid it’s gonna get a lot worse before it gets better...