John Peloza

It appears that John Peloza, the teacher of biology at Capistrano Valley High School, or his lawyer feels that using semantics will enable them to win their suit against the school district. By using the terminology that the origin of life happened by "intelligent design" instead of the terms "creationism" or "creation science," they apparently expect to convince the courts that they have the right to introduce the biblical concept of Genesis into a class wherein the students are studying the science of biology.

Ending a four-year legal battle that drew national attention, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to hear the case of a former biology teacher who sued the Capistrano Unified School District for requiring him to teach evolution and prohibiting him from discussing his religious beliefs with students. By denying the appeal, the justices let stand a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that threw out John Peloza's $5-million free-speech lawsuit against the district.

Biology teacher John Peloza, a "born-again" Christian accused by Capistrano Unified School District officials of teaching creationism in his classroom, has been reassigned to physical education classes. In a three-paragraph statement, district officials said in part, "This reassignment is in the best interest of the staff and the students at Capistrano Valley High School." Peloza has taught biology classes at that campus for eight years.

The Rev. Terrence Tobin's letter of Nov. 27 misleads readers by suggesting that the John Peloza lawsuit has any merit. For those who missed it, Capistrano Valley High School science instructor John Peloza sued the Capistrano Unified School District because he was censured for refusing to teach evolution in science class and also for proselytizing students between classes. Peloza is now conducting physical education classes. This suit (that contended evolution was a religion and therefore violated the Constitution)

Attorneys for the Capistrano Unified School District argued Monday that biology teacher John Peloza is creating "curriculum anarchy" in his efforts to add creationist theory to lessons on the origin of life in his science class. In the first court hearing in a controversial lawsuit Peloza has filed against the school district, U.S. District Judge David W.

A biology teacher at Capistrano Valley High School, who was reprimanded for allegedly preaching to two Jewish students, accused the district Wednesday night of harassing him for his religious beliefs and vowed to press ahead with a $5-million lawsuit. "My purpose as a high school biology teacher is to present evidence as it is, and not the politically correct view," said John Peloza, a "born-again" Christian.

After months of costly court battles, attorneys for the Capistrano Unified School District have asked a federal judge to decide whether biology teacher John Peloza and his supporters should pay for the district's legal fees. Last month, U.S. District Judge David W. Williams tossed out Peloza's claim that he was being forced to teach evolution as a religion and that the district had violated his 1st Amendment rights.

The article of May 16 on high school teacher John Peloza is a prime example of why American education is not keeping up with other developed countries. The fact that the flat-Earth, flat-sky, 6,000-year-old universe of the Bible could still, in 1991, be taught in Mission Viejo, Calif., as modern scientific fact is both amusing and scary at the same time. John Peloza should be teaching at any Christian school that has an uncritical approach to a literal reading of the Christian Bible.

In the ongoing lawsuit between John Peloza and the Capistrano Valley Unified School District, the central issue of the case is whether or not Peloza was told to teach evolution as fact. The attorney for the (school district), David Larsen, predicted that Peloza could not support his contention that he was told to teach evolution as fact. Larsen further stated that (Peloza) was told to teach in accordance with state guidelines, and that those guidelines are specific about maintaining neutrality on the issue of whether or not there's a creator.

Natural selection strikes again! In nullifying its previous ruling, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has found John Peloza's suit (to avoid mandatory teaching of evolution) unfit for survival. Anyone who uses religious dogma to explain the workings of the natural world has no business teaching science. Students must learn that scientific truth is not based on faith, but on observation, hypothesis, challenge and re-evaluation. Old explanations are discarded when they are insufficient or unnecessarily complex.

Without explanation, a federal appeals court abruptly reversed itself Tuesday and ruled that a former Orange County biology teacher cannot sue the Capistrano Unified School District for requiring him to teach evolution. Without being asked to do so by either side, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals nullified its own July 25 ruling that John Peloza should have his day in court to argue that district officials were promoting atheism by requiring him to teach evolution.

Your editorial, "Teach Science as Science" (July 27), concerning John Peloza's attempt to teach creationism to biology students, was excellent, but it overlooked a critical point. Peloza and his ilk would have everyone believe that evolution and creationism are competing scientific theories. But, while refusing in the face of overwhelming evidence to acknowledge that evolution is a fact, they offer no evidence that creationism is even a theory. A theory is a proposition for which there may be insufficient proof but which nonetheless has a functional scientific application.

High school teacher John Peloza won a victory over the Capistrano Unified School District on Monday when an appeals court reinstated his lawsuit alleging that district officials forced him to teach evolution as a fact rather than as scientific theory. Peloza's lawsuit was not "frivolous," as federal Judge David W. Williams said when he dismissed it in April, 1992, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday.

Our readers wrote letters throughout 1992, expressing their viewpoints on a variety of issues. Here are condensed versions of some of those letters to help us remember the events that mattered to Orange County readers this past year. We would like to thank the readers who took the time to share their views, and we look forward to hearing from them and others in 1992. John Peloza, the high school biology teacher suing for the right to teach creationism along with evolution, complains that he got a bad evaluation from his supervisors in the Capistrano Unified School District.

So, John Peloza makes headlines again ("Teacher Must Pay for Suit on Evolution," April 15). Again, the emphasis is wrong. Why did the Capistrano school board hire a physical education major to teach biological science? A PE major would probably be required to take three lower division courses in biology and one on how to teach science. I can assure you that such a basic education does not qualify anyone to teach biology. The school board or whoever hired John Peloza should pay the fine.