I was just channel surfing around 11:00pm this night before Thanksgiving to see if anything was on before turning in when I came across this new documentary from Nova on PBS. I thought I'd watch a few minutes as I was tired but became totally engrossed by this 2 hour show.
This show details the case of Kitzmiller vs Dover Area School District where the Dover School board tried to introduce an alternative to Darwin's Theory of Evolution called Intelligent Design which is espoused in a book entitled Of Pandas And People, which was donated to the school by an anonymous donor. Some parents, teachers and opponents stated that ID is nothing but creationism repackaged and that the school board was trying to force religious beliefs into the classroom. There were interviews with the lawyers and supporters from both sides as well as the presiding judge. There is also a dramatization of the trial presentation.
The case was presided over by Judge John E Jones III, a George Bush appointee, who himself has spoken favorably of ID being introduced in public school classrooms. In Dec 2005 after a six week trial, Judge Jones ruled that ID being taught in classrooms was unconstitutional and was being used only to promote religion in public schools. Several of the ID witness who testified were openly accused by the judge of committing perjury. And a month before the decision, eight members of the school board who supported ID were voted off the school board.
There were howls of outrage from the right over the actions of this 'activist judge who stabbed us in the back', who as noted just happens to be Republican, a churchgoer, and Bush appointee. One small clip shows Pat Robertson commenting words to the effect that if the people of Dover should be struck with a natural disaster, then they had better not ask God for help since they forced Him out of Dover in the first place. And the judge and others associated with the plaintiffs commented on the many threatening letters and emails they received.
A few months later Judge Jones would comment that his duty was to the Constitution and not special interest groups.
Here's alink to the PBS site:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/Forget Survivor, forget Dancing With The Stars, forget the football games, if you see this program scheduled - WATCH IT!
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