Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District: Implications for Ohio

The Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District (KvDASD) trial has been focused on a statement promoting Intelligent Design Creationism in biology class just before the segment on evolution is introduced to ninth grade public school students. An IDC textbook was also recommended as a supplement for the students in biology. If the proposal from the Dover Area School Board had been to consider the history of Creationism and evolution along with philosophies of science and religion in a humanities class, this trial might have been very different, or there might not have been any need for a trial. And, the newly elected pro-science school board members may consider just such a proposal.

As noted, Judge Jones rendered a comprehensive and thorough rejection of Intelligent Design as the most recent form of fundamentalist Christian Creationism. It is not science. He also noted that the discussion of "gaps" or "problems" in the theory of evolution, "teaching the controversy," evolution as a "theory, not a fact," and similar practices are all patterns of argument that Creationists have been using without scientific evidence for several decades. Thus not only has ID been shown to be religious in origin, but also the so-called "evidence against evolution" described by proponents of ID is equally religious in origin.

The State Superintendent of Education and several members of the Ohio Board of Education assert that there is no IDC material in the state standards or in any model lesson. However, Judge Jones' ruling applies an historically-based pattern of evidence to such assertions and demonstrates the fundamentalist Christian origin of such activities. In short, if Judge Jones were ruling in Ohio instead of Pennsylvania, several distinct actions by the Ohio Board of Education since 2002 would likely be described as attempts to inject religion into the public school science curriculum, and therefore unconstitutional.