2005 SFN Person of the Year Award

[Pangloss]

Thanks to Phi, the nominator for this award recipient, for writing this:

 

"... our conclusion today is that it is unconstitutional to teach ID [intelligent Design] as an alternative to evolution in a public school science classroom." With that ruling, Judge John E. Jones declared that the Dover Area School Board had violated the US Constitution by requiring students to hear a statement about ID before taking biology classes that included the theory of evolution.

 

"We find that the secular purposes claimed by the Board amount to a pretext for the Board's real purpose, which was to promote religion in the public school classroom," Judge Jones said. His ruling was very controversial in that he didn't just rule on a conflict between church and state, but rather expansively put the final nail in ID's coffin by ruling that it was not science at all, and made this decision, "in the hope that it may prevent the obvious waste of judicial and other resources which would be occasioned by a subsequent trial involving the precise question which is before us."

 

So despite a moderate to conservative Republican background (he was co-Chairman of Governor-elect Tom Ridge’s transition team in 1994, before Ridge became a member of the Bush cabinet), Judge Jones stood up and made a decision that won him no favors from those who appointed him. This broad ruling will no doubt protect science curriculums for years to come, insuring future generations of scientists a public education free from those with religious agendas.

 

For this we award Judge John E. Jones our very first SFN Person of the Year Award for 2005.