A federal judge has ruled that Intelligent Design can’t be taught in biology classes in a case brought against the Dover Area School Board in Pennsylvania.

“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,” [U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III] wrote in his 139-page opinion.

The Dover policy required students to hear a statement about intelligent design before ninth-grade biology lessons on evolution. The statement said Charles Darwin’s theory is “not a fact” and has inexplicable “gaps.” It refers students to an intelligent-design textbook, “Of Pandas and People,” for more information.

Technorati tag: Evolution, Creationism, Intelligent Design