High Court Refuses to Hear Teacher’s Suit Over Evolution

Ending a four-year legal battle that drew national attention, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to hear the case of a former biology teacher who sued the Capistrano Unified School District for requiring him to teach evolution and prohibiting him from discussing his religious beliefs with students.

By denying the appeal, the justices let stand a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that threw out John Peloza’s $5-million free-speech lawsuit against the district.

Peloza, a Dana Point resident who now teaches physical education at Capistrano Valley High School, said Thursday he was dismayed by the Supreme Court’s rejection of his case but believes his lawsuit brought important issues to the forefront.

“Any time you stand for the truth, it’s worth the fight,” said Peloza, who filed his suit in 1991 after being reprimanded by the district. “But I guess this means that if a student comes up to me during lunch time and says, ‘Why are you a Christian?’ I have to say, ‘I can’t answer that.’ ”

Peloza’s Supreme Court appeal did not raise the issue of whether evolution should be taught after 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judges called his claim that his freedom of speech had been denied “patently frivolous.”

But his lawsuit stemmed from his contention that his constitutional right to free speech was violated because he could not teach creationist theory.

“People need to know that evolution should be taught as a theory, not a fact,” said Peloza, a “born-again” Christian. “In my class, I questioned evolution and scientifically showed how evolution is a flawed theory, and that human life could not evolve from lower life.”

Capistrano Unified Supt. James A. Fleming said Peloza violated state education curriculum guidelines and tried to “proselytize students toward his religious beliefs.”

“Religion should be left to the domain of the family,” Fleming said. “If we send children to public schools, and we have a teacher who’s literally trying to convert them to his own religious views, that’s just not appropriate.”

In the district’s written reprimand, school officials said they received complaints from parents contending that Peloza preached to his students, and told them that they would go to hell if they did not believe in Jesus.

Fleming said Peloza was admonished and transferred from the school’s science department to its physical education department in 1992, because he majored in physical education in college and only minored in biology.

“When I came here in 1991, the lawsuit had already been filed, and I thought it was the most ridiculous thing I had ever seen,” Fleming said. “But it’s ended up costing us hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs--money we would have much preferred spending in the classroom.”

Despite his notoriety within the district, Peloza has emerged as a hero of fundamentalist Christians, some of whom helped him fund his legal battle.

The American Center for Law and Justice in Virginia, whose motto says it promotes “pro-iberty, pro-life and pro-family” causes, took on Peloza’s case and assisted him with his Supreme Court appeal.

“I’ve received tremendous support from people across the country,” Peloza said. “About 99% of the people I came in contact with were in agreement with me when they learned the facts.”

Peloza’s attorney, Cyrus Zal, described the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear his client’s case as a “tragedy.”

“It’s a travesty that teachers can’t respond to inquiries on a broad subject like religion,” he said. “I think that shows hostility toward religion. But I think it raised people’s consciousness. It’s not an ending that we like, but life has disappointments.”