Opponents of intelligent design theory have opened a new front in the battle over the theory, filing suit against a California school district that teaches intelligent design as philosophy rather than science.

On Jan. 1, the district's board of trustees voted to allow teaching of an elective course called “Philosophy of Design” at Frazier Mountain High School in the town of Lebec, located about 65 miles north of Los Angeles.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed suit Jan. 11 in federal court on behalf of 11 parents in California's El Tejon Unified School District, saying the course is not simply teaching intelligent design but teaching it from a specifically religious viewpoint.

A course description said the class would “take a close look at evolution as a theory and will discuss the scientific, biological, and biblical aspects that suggest why Darwin's philosophy is not rock solid .... Physical and chemical evidence will be presented suggesting the earth is thousands of years old, not billions.”

In December, a federal judge ruled that a Pennsylvania school district's practice of endorsing ID in high-school biology classes violates the Constitution's prohibition on government establishment of religion.

However, several of the practice's critics said, at the time, they had no objection to ID theory being taught in philosophy or humanities classes.

But AU leaders said the California case is different, because the course is weighted toward a fundamentalist Christian view of the origins of life.

Associated Baptist Press

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