Cobb: Judge gets textbook case
12th November 2004
By Kristina Torres
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/12/04
The arguments have been made, and now a judge must decide: Do disclaimers Cobb County stuck in its science textbooks two years ago – calling evolution a “theory, not a fact” – violate the principle of separation between church and state?
After three days of testimony in a lawsuit seeking to rid the school system of the disclaimers, Cobb schools attorney Linwood Gunn said Friday if the school system’s plan was to promote religion, “it’s a colossal failure.”
Attorney Michael Manely, in his own closing arguments for the six parents who brought the suit, countered that the disclaimers are religiously motivated. He compared them to cigarette warnings, saying they question how valid science’s answer is to the origins of man.
U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Cooper gave no date but said he will make his ruling as soon as possible.