Judgement Day: Intelligent Design on Trial (16 of 50)

Judgement Day: Intelligent Design on Trial

NARRATOR: By the time the trial started, challenges to the teaching of evolution had cropped up in dozens of other states, and intelligent design was attracting some heavy hitters.
Rick Santorum, then Pennsylvania senator, had commended the school district for its intelligent design policy, and President Bush had thrown his support behind intelligent design, saying both sides ought to be properly taught so people can understand what the debate is about.
Now, the eyes of the nation were on Dover, the latest battleground in the war on evolution.
WALCZAK: I don't want to sound melodramatic, but I actually think very important things were at stake.
One is the future of science education in this country.

If a school board could do this, what would prevent them from doing more things like this in other classes?
Presenting pseudo science or pseudo math or pseudo history in promotion of one particular religious view.
It 's wrong.
Does science education have to be so narrow, so technical, so deferential to the existing paradigm that we can't even introduce students to what may be the next great theory.
NARRATOR: Presiding over the case would be Judge John E.Jones III.
JONES: I could never have imagined in August of 2002, when I took my seat, that I would be presiding over a case that would attract literally worldwide attention.
NARRATOR: Jones had been recommended for his position on the bench by Senator Santorum, and appointed by George W.Bush.
Before becoming a judge, Jones was head of Pennsylvania's Liquor Control Board, where he banned the sale of Bad Frog Beer because it showed a cartoon frog making an offensive gesture.
ERIC ROTHSCHILD: Initially, you find out you've got a judge that's been appointed by President Bush, who has come out himself in favor of intelligent design.
That makes you a little nervous.