Citing Religious Web Site, Parent Sues UC Berkeley

Amid growing controversy surrounding the teaching of intelligent design in the classroom, a federal lawsuit was filed Thursday against UC Berkeley and the National Science Foundation officials over religious statements found on a UC Berkeley Web site.

The plaintiff, Jeanne Caldwell, a mother of three, said certain aspects of the site-which serves as a teaching aide that helps teachers in public, K-12 schools deal with questions on religion and evolution-are in violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

"Since UC Berkeley is essentially the state of California they shouldn't be advocating religion into science class," said Larry Caldwell, president of Quality Science Education for All and co-counsel for the plaintiff.

According to the complaint, the site violates the clause through its assertion that most religious denominations find no conflict between their religious doctrine and evolutionary theory, citing a section of the site that dispels common misconceptions of evolution.

In the section, the site makes the claim that "religion and science (evolution) are very different things. In science, only natural causes are used to explain natural phenomena, while religion deals with beliefs that are beyond the natural world."

The section also includes a cartoon of a priest holding a Bible and a scientist shaking hands at the bottom of the page, which the complaint also says misleads students into thinking the two co-exist without discrepancies.

According to the complaint, the method the site uses forces students to ignore or change their respective religious beliefs in order to accept what the plaintiff calls "a government-sanctioned version of evolution."

The plaintiff also took exception to a link for the National Center for Science Education Web site which includes religious statements on the theory of evolution by several religious denominations.

Putting a link on a federally funded Web site to a page with religious content violates the First Amendment, according to the plaintiff.

The plaintiff is asking for the removal of the supposed religious statements from the site.

Still, the university stands behind the content on the web site, said UC Berkeley spokesperson Bob Sanders.

"We are confident that the Web site is lawful and that our support of it is lawful," Sanders said.

But as the debate between the theories intensifies, students need receive a fair and comprehensive overview of evolution, Larry Caldwell said.

Weaknesses along with the strengths of ever-changing scientific theory should be taught in the classroom, not exempting the theory of evolution, according to the plaintiff.

Classes should be "teaching some of the scientific weaknesses of evolution. It ought to be about science not religion," Caldwell said.

But Sanders said the Web site's content by no means advocates religion.

"We are not promoting religion," Sanders said. "It's a site that provides teachers with tools to teach evolution."

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