Colorado —
FFRF successfully halted the teaching of creationism in the science curriculum at a Colorado public charter school.
FFRF wrote to the CEO of James Irwin Charter Schools after a concerned parent reported that James Irwin Charter Middle School in Colorado Springs was planning to include “intelligent design” and “creationist theory” alongside evolution in its eighth-grade science curriculum. According to an email sent to parents by the school’s science lead, the evolution unit proposed to “teach Intelligent Design and evolution” and “present a creationist theory and an evolutionist theory regarding natural selection, adaptation and evolution.”
FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote to the district explaining that teaching creationism or intelligent design in public school science classes violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
“Promoting creationism, intelligent design or any of its offshoots in public schools is unlawful because creationism is based solely on religion, not scientific fact,” her letter stated. FFRF noted that the Supreme Court and federal courts have consistently rejected attempts to introduce religious doctrine into public school science classes, including the landmark ruling in Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) and the federal decision in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (2005), which struck down policies promoting creationism and intelligent design.
FFRF’s intervention had the desired result. Following its letter, the school system investigated the matter and scrapped the pseudoscience portion of the curriculum.
“Please know that this practice has ceased,” CEO Rob Daugherty wrote in a response to FFRF. “Intelligent design will not be taught in the middle school or in any other James Irwin Charter School as part of a science curriculum.”
