News Release

December 20, 2005

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Cato Education Expert: Fight Over Intelligent Design Far From Over

A Federal judge has ruled that "intelligent design" cannot be taught in Pennsylvania public school biology classes.

Andrew J. Coulson, Director of the Cato Institute Center for Educational Freedom, is available for comment.

"Today's Intelligent Design ruling by the U.S. District Court in Harrisburg will be perceived as a victory for supporters of evolutionary theory and a defeat for I.D. advocates and creationists," says Coulson. "Such perceptions are shortsighted. The Pennsylvania ruling will do nothing to end the battle over the teaching of human origins that has plagued public schools since the Scopes trial of 1925. It, and all the other cultural and religious 'school wars' that divide our nation, will rage on unless we do something about their root cause: our one-size-fits-all government school system.

"As long as every taxpayer is compelled to fund a single official education system, conflicts over its curricula and methods will persist. But there is an alternative: provide tax relief and scholarships that will put independent schooling within reach of every family in America. By allowing parents to obtain the sort of education they value for their own children, without obliging them to foist it on their neighbors, we can eliminate the root cause of the problem - and bring peace across the entire education front of our nation's culture war."

"Why Fight Over Intelligent Design?," by Andrew J. Coulson. Foxnews.com, November 18, 2005.