Federal Judge John Jones shot down the decision of the Dover School Board to require the teaching of Intelligent Design in 9th grade science classes.
Judge Jones' logic is that since ID requires that there be an intelligent designer who works through supernatural laws which cannot be described by science, it is therefore nothing more than thinly disguised religion.
The Supreme Court has previously determined that teaching Creationism in a science class is a violation of the Constitutional prohibition of government establishing a religion. The Judge determined that the arguments used to establish ID were identical to those that were previously used to establish Creationism.
Science rejects all supernatural causes in favor of causes which can be rationally described and explained by human beings. ID (and Creationism) explicitly require that a supernatural being (the Intelligent Designer) exist to cause the different species. Such a supernatural being cannot be described or explained by science, so ID and Creationism are inherently not scientific. Therefore no explanation of events based on ID or Creationism can possibly be scientific.
Since the (Republican) school board (in a highly Republican School District) which adopted the teaching of ID was voted out in the most recent election and replaced by a slate of Democrats who ran as opposed to the teaching if ID, it is very unlikely that Judge Jones' decision will be appealed.
A further description of the decision is found here.
The Washington Post today provides further information on the decision by Judge Jones.
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