Evolution Disclaimer Sticker Ruled Unconstitutional

The latest trial on creation-evolution ended on Thursday, when a U.S. judge ruled the evolution disclaimer stickers on textbooks in a Georgia school district violated the U.S. Constitution.

By Pauline J. Chang, Christian Post Reporter Friday, January 14, 2005

The latest trial on creation-evolution ended on Thursday, when a U.S. judge ruled the evolution disclaimer stickers on textbooks in a Georgia school district violated the U.S. Constitution. While the U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper ruled against the Cobb County school district, he acknowledged the stickers clearly served a “secular purpose.”

Arguments for the case began in November 2004, when six Cobb County parents and the American Civil Liberties Union sued school officials over the stickers. The ACLU charged the sticker disclaimer as promoting creationism and discriminating against non-Christians, although the sticker neither mentioned creationism nor God.

The stickers read: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."

During the Thursday ruling, Atlanta judge Cooper said the school board had violated the constitutional ban on the separation of church and state by placing the disclaimers on the biology books in 2002.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Cooper applied a three-pronged “lemon” test to see if the stickers violate the First Amendment Establishment clause. The lemon test, which has guided the Supreme Court’s decisions in establishment clause cases since 1971, says a law is constitutional if it has a secular purpose, does not promote religion primarily, and does not establish excessive entanglement with religion.

Cooper said the stickers passed the first prong since it serves a secular purpose. However, he ruled the sticker did not pass the second test since it has the tendency to convey a message of endorsement of religion to certain observers.

An observer "would interpret the sticker to convey a message of endorsement of religion. That is, the sticker sends a message to those who oppose evolution for religious reasons that they are favored members of the political community, while the sticker sends a message to those who believe in evolution that they are political outsiders,” he wrote in his opinion.

Maggie Garrett, a lawyer with the ACLU said it was “pleased” with the decision since “the law was pretty clear.”

However, John West, an associate director of the Discovery Institute’s Center on Science and Culture, said the case was “bizarre” and “unfortunate.”

“The judge struck down this sticker not because it was designed to advance religion -- he ruled it wasn't -- but because he thought some people might wrongly believe the sticker advanced religion," said West, whose group regularly poses scientific challenges to the theory of evolution.. "It's unfortunate that the judge apparently has such a low view of the intelligence of his fellow citizens. If the judge can figure out that the school district adopted the sticker to advance the legitimate secular purpose of promoting critical discussion of evolution, why couldn't the citizens of Cobb County?

“This case is pretty much a side show to the real debate over science education policy right now.”