High Court Strikes Down Teaching of ‘Creationism’ : Religious Right Irked by Ruling

The Supreme Court handed religious fundamentalists a stunning defeat today, ruling 7 to 2 that a Louisiana law promoting the teaching of creationism is merely a “sham” to introduce religious doctrine into public schools.

The court’s overwhelming vote makes it clear that any attempts to introduce religious doctrine into public school curriculum will probably fail. Only the court’s most conservative members, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justice Antonin Scalia, looked with favor on the law.

Reaction was swift and predictable.

Fundamentalists bemoaned the ruling as a blatant exercise of judicial power and those opposed to the law, including a wide range of religious leaders, parents and civil liberties groups, hailed the ruling for keeping religion out of the public schools.

O’Hair Plans ‘Beer Bust’

President Reagan, who supports the teaching of creationism, said of the decision, “I haven’t seen that.” Atheist leader Madalyn Murray O’Hair said, “I thought (the court) would go with the crazies. We are so pleased. We’re going to have a beer bust.”

Justice William J. Brennan, the Supreme Court’s most senior and liberal member, wrote the opinion. He methodically demolished one by one the state’s arguments that the law had a non-religious purpose and was designed to promote academic freedom.

Brennan said the law violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment, which states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

The Louisiana law required that teaching the theory of evolution be balanced by teaching the theory of creation-science, also called creationism.

Sudden Creation

Creation-science states that the Earth and most life forms came into existence suddenly about 6,000 years ago, in a process similar to a literal translation of the Book of Genesis.

Evolution, first propounded by Charles Darwin, states that Earth is billions of years old and that life forms developed gradually several million years ago.

Brennan said the purpose of the Louisiana law “was to restructure the science curriculum to conform with a particular religious viewpoint.”

He added: “Because the primary purpose of the Creationism Act is to advance a particular religious belief, the act endorses religion in violation of the First Amendment.”

Louisiana Act of 1981

The Louisiana Legislature enacted the Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act in 1981, but it was struck down before ever being enforced.

Brennan said the Louisiana law was not really aimed at protecting academic freedom but “has the distinctly different purpose of discrediting evolution by counterbalancing its teaching at every turn with the teaching of creation science.”

Brennan concluded the “Louisiana Creationism Act advances a religious doctrine by requiring either the banishment of the theory of evolution from public school classrooms or the presentation of a religious viewpoint that rejects evolution in its entirety.

In dissent, Scalia said there was “no justification” for the court’s decision to strike down a law that had a clearly stated secular purpose--to protect academic freedom.

“The act defines creation-science as ‘scientific evidence.’. . . We have no basis on the record to conclude that creation science need be anything other than a collection of scientific data supporting the theory that life abruptly appeared on Earth,” Scalia said.