Advocates of the theory generally do not identify who they think the designer was. Judge Jones, an appointee of President Bush, said the extensive testimony in the Pennsylvania case made it clear that "no serious alternative to God as the designer has been proposed" by members of the intelligent design movement.
The 11 plaintiffs in the current case -- parents whose children attend Frazier Mountain High School in Lebec -- said in their suit that the course "was designed to advance religious theories on the origins of life, including creationism and its offshoot 'intelligent design.' "
Because of that, the course violates provisions of the U.S. and California constitutions barring establishment of religion, they say.
With one exception, the suit asserts, "the course relies exclusively on videos that advocate religious perspectives and present religious theories as scientific ones -- and because the teacher has no scientific training, students are not provided with any critical analysis of the presentation."
The parents are asking a U.S. District Court judge in Fresno to issue a temporary restraining order barring the course.
One of the parents, Kenneth Hurst, who has a doctorate in geology and is a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge, said in court papers that the class "conflicts with my beliefs as a scientist. I believe this class undermines the sound scientific principles taught in Frazier Mountain High School's biology curriculum and is structured in a way that deprives my children of the opportunity to be presented with an objective education that would aid the development of their critical thinking skills."
Hurst, who has children in 10th and 12th grades, said the class also interfered with his personal religious views as a Quaker and "reflects a preference for fundamentalist Christianity over all other religious and scientific viewpoints."
