E Pluribus Unum

...In a public meeting of the defendant Dover Area School Board on June 7, 2004, School Board member William Buckingham, Chair of the Board's Curriculum Committee, criticized the textbook Biology because it is "laced with Darwinism," and advocated the purchase of a biology book that includes theories of creation as part of the text.

At that meeting Mr. Buckingham said that as part of the search for a new biology book, he and others were looking for one that offers balance between the biblical view of creation and Darwin's theory of evolution. He also said there need not be any consideration for the beliefs of Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims or other competing faiths and views. "This country wasn't founded on Muslim beliefs or evolution," he said. "This country was founded on Christianity and our students shold be taught as such."

At a public meeting of the Dover School Board on June 14, 2004, in further discussion of the new biology book, Mr. Buckingham stated, "Two thousand years ago, someone died on a cross. Can't someone take a stand for him?" He also stated that "[n]owhere in the Constitution does it call for a separation of church and state."

For the record, I don't have much of a problem with a public school district offering a course on comparative religions. But when religion (and only one religion at that) is shoe-horned into a science class, that's bad for everyone -- bad for the kids, bad for the parents, bad for the teachers.

If you want to mix science and religion, if you want to teach alchemy, if you want to say "there be dragons," be my guest: enroll your kids in the private school of your choice. Just please don't come back and demand that we dismantle the public school system (and/or raise my taxes) in order to pay for it.

Nowhere in the Constitution does it call for the right of a private school education.

Fact is, there are lots and lots of private schools you can send your children to. You can even home school them if you want. It's your choice.

P.S. Wince, even the Discovery Institute thinks Dover went too far, but not for the reasons you and I might agree on.

(HT to Chris Mooney and Kevin Drum)