Re: Judge Jones sided with the Discovery Institute and ruled against the Dove...

*You're right that ID does not have ALL the accouterments of a /cultus/, but
it is clearly religious*

Well then, any philosophical claim is religious. Therefore, nothing with
any philosophical basis can be taught in public schools under the
establishment clause. I guess we have to close down all the public
schools. Religiously-derived is not the same thing as a "religion" under
the law.

*But I recognize that the obvious is not adequate for a lawyer who dislikes
the ramifications of a decision.
*
The law is what it is, and what it is is that "religion" has a historical
and cultural meaning that includes, as you put it, aspects of a "cultus" as
well as some metaphysical ideology. But I recognize that what the law
actually says and the traditions from which it is derived are not adequate
for an idealogue who wants to enforce his views on the rest of the world
under the guise of the first amendment.

On 1/9/06, D. F. Siemens, Jr. <dfsiemensjr@juno.com> wrote:
>
> You're right that ID does not have ALL the accouterments of a /cultus/,
but it is clearly religious. Further, it is, despite all counterclaims,
connected to monotheism. Now do you want to claim that monotheism by itself
is not A religion? Jones' decision did not mention metaphysics explicitly to
my recollection, but it was implicit in his ruling.
>
> In your previous post, you presented a lengthy description of religions
according to judicial decisions. A naturalist might do the same for "duck,"
recognizing the many species along with the differences between the plumage
of drakes and ducks, and so on to indefinite length. But the classic "If it
looks like a duck, ..." is fully adequate for most of us. But I recognize
that the obvious is not adequate for a lawyer who dislikes the ramifications
of a decision.
> Dave
>
>
> On Mon, 9 Jan 2006 14:01:44 -0500 David Opderbeck <dopderbeck@gmail.com>
writes:
>
> The quote goes far beyond #2, and includes things like worship spaces,
authoritative founders (e.g., Jesus, Buddha), recognized officials
(priests), holidays, and such. While ID might be derived from a religion,
there's no way it would in itself be classified as a "religion."
>
Received on Mon Jan 9 20:31:36 2006