[asa] Ruling is in: ACSI v Kearns

The initial phase of the California Creationist Lawsuit is over, and
quality education is the decisive winner. Kevin Vicklund has Judge
Otero's decision, as well as a very nice analysis of the ruling up
over at his blog. If you've been following the case closely, you can
probably jump right over there for the details. If you haven't been
tracking the events closely, or want a quick review of the case, keep
reading. I'm going to go over the history first, then I'll talk a bit
about what Friday's decision means, and what is likely to happen with
the case in the future.

The lawsuit (ACSI v. Stearns) was filed in federal court in August of
2005 by the Association of Christian Schools International, Calvary
Chapel Christian School, and parents acting on behalf of their
children, who were students at Calvary Chapel. They were challenging
the University of California's decision to refuse to accept several of
their courses as fulfilling UC's admissions requirements. The rejected
courses covered the academic spectrum, with English, history, and
science classes all failing to meet UC's scrutiny. The common element
in the rejected courses was that they did not actually teach the
material that UC requires from incoming students. Instead, the
rejected courses taught a radically wrong "Christian perspective".

For most of us, the rejection of the courses was nothing more than the
natural consequence of the Christian schools' decision to reject
reality and teach fantasy. From their perspective, it represented an
unconstitutional attack on their freedom of religion. The court,
obviously, did not agree. To see why, we really need look no farther
than the introduction to the biology textbook used in one of the
rejected courses:

See: http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2008/08/quality-educati.html and
http://scienceblogs.com/authority/2008/08/quality_education_wins_again_i.php

The complaint: http://www.acsi.org/webfiles/webitems/attachments/007875_2.%20ACSI%20CA%20Complaint.pdf
Ruling: http://missingthepoint.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/acsivuc-ruling.pdf
Analysis: http://missingthepoint.wordpress.com/2008/08/10/2nd-summary-judgment-in-acsi-v-stearns/

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Received on Mon Aug 11 12:56:26 2008