WASHINGTON - December 20 - Scholars, scientists and legal experts today applauded Judge John E. Jones III for striking down the Dover School Board’s proposed science standards that encourage students to question the validity of evolution.

As you plan your coverage of the Dover school board verdict, please consider the following media opportunities:

1.) Media Teleconference with the Plaintiffs, Attorneys in the Dover case

WHO: Plaintiffs and their attorneys in the Kitzmiller v. Dover case
WHAT: Telepress conference to discuss verdict
WHEN: Today, 1:30pm ET
CALL-IN: 1-877-492-4019 pass code: 717-255-1164

2.) Additional Experts available for Comment

Campaign to Defend the Constitution board members Ira Glasser, former head of the ACLU, and Lawrence Krauss, Physics professor and Director of the Center for Education and Research at Case Western Reserve University, are available for comment. Please contact Jessica Smith at: 202-822-5200 x234.

“Today’s decision recognizes, along with the voters of Dover, that attempts to impose religious beliefs as an alternative ‘science’ cannot constitutionally be forced by law upon students and their families,” said DefCon advisory board member Ira Glasser, former head of the ACLU. Earlier this month, Dover residents voted out of office the eight school board members who backed the intelligent design curriculum.

“U.S. children are consistently scoring behind those of other nations in their knowledge and understanding of science. Today’s decision was a profoundly sensible one. It should send a message to school boards across America and to those who attempt to use them as pawns in an ideological public relations initiative that we cannot expect to close this gap if we substitute ideology for sound science in our science classrooms, and that we should put our efforts into turning kids on to science, not distorting it,” said DefCon advisory board member Lawrence M. Krauss, Physics professor and Director of the Center for Education and Research at Case Western Reserve University.

The Campaign to Defend the Constitution (DefCon), a 35,000-member online grassroots movement to combat the threat posed by the religious right to American democracy, has launched a number of actions to protect science education from religious attack, including a $200,000 online ad campaign on evolution and a letter-writing campaign that yielded over 5,000 letters to all 50 governors demanding that alternatives to evolution, like intelligent design, are kept out of science classrooms.

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