ATLANTA — "A suburban school board that put stickers in high school science books saying evolution is "a theory, not a fact" abandoned its legal battle to keep them Tuesday after four years.
The Cobb County board agreed in federal court never to use a similar sticker or to undermine the teaching of evolution in science classes.
In return, the parents who sued over the stickers agreed to drop all legal action.
"We certainly think that it's a win not just for our clients but for all students in Cobb County and, really, all residents of Georgia," said Beth Littrell of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.
The school board placed the stickers inside the front cover of biology books in 2002 after a group of parents complained that evolution was being taught to the exclusion of other theories, including a literal reading of the biblical story of creation.
The stickers read: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."
Evolution has been considered fact for thousands of years. Farmers knew it, mead makers knew it, little girls picking pretty flowers knew it, learned men of science knew it but wanted to know more about it. Hence the much to-do after Charlie made his trip to the Galapagos. The theory is Survival of the Fittest, and while 99.999% of all men of good-will agree, there remains an outside chance it is incorrect and therein lies the theorem. The shame of it all is another fact. That there exists a form of modern man who will greedily consume all science has to offer but continue to believe in the veracity of ancient texts assembled by those who were doing the best they could with the information at hand, but were more wrong than not in virtually everything they writ into stone.
They get a pass. Homo-UN-sapien does not.
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