Law and Worldview: Problems in the Creation-Science Controversy
When the federal court declared Arkansas' "equal time" statute (requiring that public school science teachers present both creation and evolution "theories" in the classroom) unconstitutional, many citizens concerned with "keeping religion out of the schools" were...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
1985
|
In: |
Journal of law and religion
Year: 1985, Volume: 3, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-46 |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | When the federal court declared Arkansas' "equal time" statute (requiring that public school science teachers present both creation and evolution "theories" in the classroom) unconstitutional, many citizens concerned with "keeping religion out of the schools" were relieved. A second look at that controversy, the parties involved, and the court's opinion, however, reveals an unsettled atmosphere. For a great many Americans in the Protestant evangelical tradition, the Arkansas experience was only the first round of a long legal fight, the opening battle of a war of worldviews. The matter is far from settled, not only because of similar "equal time" laws now being drafted, passed, or challenged, but because the advocates of such legislation have learned from the Arkansas failure: the earlier bill was not carefully worded, their position was not properly presented, and the trial judge was allegedly biased. The battleground has moved of late to Louisiana, where a new version of creation-science legislation is being attacked and defended, but McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education remains as the most recent full trial in the controversy. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 2163-3088 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of law and religion
|
Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/1051347 |