Re: AU complaint as filed

For those interested:

Below is a new press release from the DI on the CA high school
"Philosophy of Design" course.

Keith

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Press Release Source: Discovery Institute

Intelligent Design Group Urges California High School to Change Course
or Remove Intelligent Design
Wednesday January 11, 7:17 pm ET

SEATTLE, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- A leading intelligent design group
today sent a letter to the El Tejon School District in California
requesting that the district either change the course materials or
change the name of the its "Philosophy of design" elective philosophy
class.

Earlier this week the district's Frazier Mountain High School was sued
by Americans United for Separation of Church and State for offering a
philosophy course that purportedly teaches about the theory of
intelligent design.

In the letter, a Discovery Institute attorney writes: "The title and
nature of this course are problematic and appear to misrepresent the
content of the course and intelligent design." The letter later urges
the district to: "Either reformulate the course by removing the young
earth creationist materials or retitle the course as a course not
focused on intelligent design." The complete text is available online
at www.discovery.org/csc/.

"In reviewing the course description and syllabus, it's clear that the
course wrongly mixes intelligent design with young earth creationism or
Biblical creationism," said attorney Casey Luskin, program officer for
public policy and legal affairs at Discovery Institute's Center for
Science & Culture and author of the letter. "As far as we can tell,
more than half of the course content deals with young earth creationist
materials, so the title 'Philosophy of design' is misleading."

In the letter, Luskin explains why intelligent design is not the same
as creationism: "Intelligent design is different from creationism
because intelligent design is based upon empirical data, rather than
religious scripture, and also because intelligent design is not a
theory about the age of the earth. Moreover, unlike creationism,
intelligent design does not try to inject itself into religious
discussions about the identity of the intelligence responsible for
life. Creationism, in contrast, always postulates a supernatural or
divine creator."

Discovery Institute is the nation's leading think tank researching the
scientific theory of intelligent design. In science education, it
supports the "teach the controversy" approach to Darwinian evolution
presenting both the strengths and weaknesses of the theory. Its Center
for Science and Culture has over 40 biologists, biochemists,
physicists, philosophers and historians of science, and public policy
and legal experts, most of whom have positions with colleges and
universities. For more information visit www.discovery.org/csc/.

Source: Discovery Institute

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Received on Wed Jan 11 22:04:34 2006