Thoughts in a Haystack

I can't believe I missed your birthday!

Happy 20th, Edwards v. Aguillard!

It was June 19, 1987 that the Supreme Court handed down the decision that definitively ruled that the teaching of "Creation Science" in public schools was a violation of the Establishment clause of the First Amendment.

Of course, that was also the day that creationists began plotting what was to become "Intelligent Design." As we know thanks to Barbara Forrest's testimony at the Kitzmiller trial, if not on that very day, it was soon after that the publishers of Of Panda's and People, still the only ID "textbook," began to simply replace "creationism" with "Intelligent Design." As Judge Jones summed up the evidence:

... Pandas went through many drafts, several of which were completed prior to and some after the Supreme Court's decision in Edwards, which held that the Constitution forbids teaching creationism as science. By comparing the pre and post Edwards drafts of Pandas, three astonishing points emerge: (1) the definition for creation science in early drafts is identical to the definition of ID; (2) cognates of the word creation (creationism and creationist), which appeared approximately 150 times were deliberately and systematically replaced with the phrase ID; and (3) the changes occurred shortly after the Supreme Court held that creation science is religious and cannot be taught in public school science classes in Edwards. This word substitution is telling, significant, and reveals that a purposeful change of words was effected without any corresponding change in content ...

So, while your birth was accompanied by bad actions by some, we're still really glad you're here!
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