O.C. Teacher’s Creationism Suit Rejected With Rebuke

In a stinging decision, a federal judge Thursday characterized an Orange County biology teacher as “a loose cannon” and rejected a claim that he had been being forced to teach evolution as a religion.

U.S. District Judge David W. Williams dismissed a lawsuit filed by John Peloza, who had accused the Capistrano Unified School District of wrongly reprimanding him for adding creationism to his science class lectures.

“Simply put,” Williams wrote, “the issue I must decide is whether Peloza has a constitutional right to conduct himself as a loose cannon in his classroom or on the campus and teach scientific theories of his own choosing, despite the fact that they are not authorized by and are prohibited by the state Board of Education curriculum.

“I conclude that he has not,” the judge wrote.

The suit had drawn the attention of U.S. Christian groups that had hoped that the case would evolve into a reverse version of the 1925 “monkey trial,” in which Tennessee teacher John T. Scopes was convicted of the state crime of teaching evolution.

Peloza, a “born-again” Christian, could not be reached Thursday, but his attorney, Cyrus Zal, said he intends to appeal. Zal had argued that the district was forcing Peloza to teach evolution as a religion in his Capistrano Valley High School classes.

“I’m at a loss to comment on this,” Zal said. “The judge states facts that are not in our complaint. John Peloza recognizes that he cannot teach creationism. . . . We were not disputing that. Our case was that the school district was forcing John to teach evolution as a fact, not as a theory.”

District officials expressed elation. “I thought this case was ridiculous the day I came to Capistrano,” said Supt. James A. Fleming, who inherited the Peloza case when he accepted the district’s top job last summer.

“I applaud Mr. Peloza for his religious convictions,” he said. “But one’s religious view has no place in the teaching of a public school’s biology class. I sincerely hope that Mr. Peloza and his advisers reconsider their position to appeal this case.”

Fleming said the district has already spent thousands of dollars defending itself against the suit.

In his 18-page decision, Williams noted that his court order to dismiss the case “revisits the longstanding debate between scientists and fundamentalists about human origins--the theories of evolution (versus) creationism.”

Williams said Capistrano Valley students have a right to be taught biology without religious bias and disagreed with Peloza’s assertion that he has a right to speak to students during lunch hours and free time about creationism.

Peloza, Williams wrote, “looks upon this as a First Amendment right. I don’t see this as an instance of students clamoring to him as a Pied Piper to seek the blessings of his pronouncements. Rather, it appears that he desires to do a job of proselytizing pupils in his classroom to swell the numbers of those who will follow him to his lecture during lunch hours or class breaks, so he may expound his views to them out of the classroom.”

Then the judge roundly dismissed Peloza’s argument that he does not necessarily want to teach creationism, but only wants the freedom to teach his own kind of science.

Peloza “has not comported himself in the manner of one who only wants to teach science,” the judge said. “In the classroom he has stated more than once that he is a creationist and does not believe in the theory of evolution. Additionally, plaintiff has had various conversations with members of his class, espousing his Christian views.”

The decision also scolds Peloza for naming in his suit several teachers and school officials, who he alleged had infringed on his right to teach.

Peloza “has named a series of individual defendants who have made statements in opposition to the plaintiff’s teaching methods,” Williams said. “These comments do not infringe on plaintiff’s right to teach. In fact, the individuals are only exercising their First Amendment right to free speech.”

One teacher, James Corbett, was named because he is the faculty adviser for “Paw Prints,” the school’s student newspaper. Paw Prints published a column that voiced opposition to Peloza. The column, written by a 17-year-old senior, ran beneath an editorial by Peloza defending his position. Immediately after the student’s article was printed, Peloza threatened to sue the Paw Prints faculty adviser and the student newspaper. He finally decided to name Corbett to his suit against the district.

“I love vindication,” Corbett said in reaction. “What bothered me was that the school district had to spend money to defend itself. They (Peloza’s supporters) were so blinded by religion. This nonsense had gone far enough. This teaches us that we all need to be on guard from groups who want to use schools for their own agendas.”

Despite the strong ruling, David C. Larsen, attorney for the district, said the debate between creationism and biologists will not end.

“In people’s minds, this will never be resolved,” Larsen said. “I don’t know whether this (will) make a change. This will add to the already substantial body of legal precedents dealing with this issue and the established fact that creationism is not proper in public schools.”

The issue was sparked in February, when district officials reprimanded Peloza, who has taught at Capistrano Valley for seven years. Officials told Peloza to stop proselytizing to his students. The reprimand also directed Peloza not to teach that man was put on Earth by an intelligent creator.

He was instructed instead to follow district guidelines requiring that evolution be taught as the scientific explanation of man’s origin.

The district follows carefully crafted state science curricula hotly debated by scientists and Christian groups two years ago in Sacramento.

Peloza immediately filed a grievance and drew the interest of the Rutherford Institute of California, an Encinitas-based organization that describes itself as specializing “in the defense of religious liberty, family autonomy and sanctity of human life.” The institute has already pursued other cases where religious and secular beliefs have been splintered in schools.

According to the written reprimand--which was included as evidence in the federal court case--Peloza told his biology class that he saw Jesus Christ save his brother and sister. The reprimand also said that Peloza quoted extensively from the Bible’s Book of Genesis during class time, told students that they will go to hell if they are not Christians and graphically described hell to two students.

Peloza has disputed those points in the reprimand.