Posted by Damozel | Well, this will get the fundamentalists' bloomers in a twist, at least if they stop reading after the second paragraph. Actually, the decision and the standards it addresses are quite nuanced.
A federal judge says the University of California can deny course credit to applicants from Christian high schools whose textbooks declare the Bible infallible and reject evolution.
Rejecting claims of religious discrimination and stifling of free expression, U.S. District Judge James Otero of Los Angeles said UC's review committees cited legitimate reasons for rejecting the texts - not because they contained religious viewpoints, but because they omitted important topics in science and history and failed to teach critical thinking. (SF Gate)
While the attorney Advocates for Faith and Freedom, argued that UC is trying to secularize Christian schools, the University's Vice-President of Legal Affairs put a different frame on it.
Charles Robinson, the university's vice president for legal affairs, said the ruling "confirms that UC may apply the same admissions standards to all students and to all high schools without regard to their religious affiliations." What the plaintiffs seek, he said, is a "religious exemption from regular admissions standards. (SF Gate)
Judge James Otero pointed out that the school doesn't refuse credit for all courses which deal with religious material and viewpoints.
[T]he university has approved many courses containing religious material and viewpoints, including some that use such texts as "Chemistry for Christian Schools" and "Biology: God's Living Creation," or that include scientific discussions of creationism as well as evolution.
UC denies credit to courses that rely largely or entirely on material stressing supernatural over historic or scientific explanations, though it has approved such texts as supplemental reading, the judge said. (SF Gate)
Pointing out that Otero is a Bush appointee, John Cole says: "This one has it all- California, liberal ivory towers, creationism, poor marginalized Christians, home-schooling, and activist judges. Get ready for the freak out, because you know it is coming." (Balloon Juice)
Emptywheel wishes the media would ask McCain about this. "[A]sking McCain for comment would make him choose between alienating the GOP base or speaking what he might still believe to be the truth, that science is science." I agree. Make him deal with this fork or be (figuratively, of course) impaled on it.
The Wall Street Journal Law Blog also addresses this case and in more depth.
Memeorandum discusses it here.
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