Can Creation Science be taught in public schools? What about intelligent design?
The two most important cases concerning the teaching of origins science were the Supreme Court cases of Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97 (1968) and Edwards v. Aguillard, 482 U.S. 578 (1987). There are perhaps a dozen or more other lower court cases that also bear on origins science education. Edwards is probably the principal case for determining current legal precedent regarding the First Amendment and public education. (This commentary does not consider the 2005 Kitzmiller case.) In Edwards the 7-2 majority struck down a Louisiana statute calling for balanced treatment of Creation Science and Evolution Science in public education. The essence of the Louisiana statute was that no school was required to teach either theory but if one was taught, both had to be taught. The rationale supporting the Court findings is tangled and complex but the end result was that the statute was struck down on the basis that it was in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Basical
