Former Chief Justice Roy Moore and Foundation for Moral Law File Brief Arguing that Textbook Stickers Calling Evolution “a Theory, Not a Fact” Do Not Violate U.S. and Georgia Constitutions
April 18, 2005
Case: Selman v. Cobb County

Sometimes even common-sense needs to be defended in the courts!  Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and the Foundation for Moral Law, Inc., have filed an amicus curiae (“friend-of-the-court”) brief in Selman v. Cobb County, Georgia, in a federal appeals court in Atlanta, Georgia, asking the court to hold that Cobb County School District's textbook stickers calling evolution “a theory, not a fact” do not violate the text of either the United States or the Georgia constitutions.  Our brief also highlights the trial judge's open hostility toward religion, most obviously where the judge held that the problem with the textbook sticker was not what it said about evolution, but that “religiously-motivated individuals” in Cobb County would approve of what it said.  By “religiously-motivated individuals,” explained the judge, he meant “Christian fundamentalists and creationists.”  (Read/print the brief here.)

The case began in 2002, after the Cobb County School Board approved and placed stickers on certain science textbooks that 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.”  Though regrettably there is nothing in the sticker about God or even creationism, the judge still ruled the stickers unconstitutional because religious people would agree with what it said!

Because the Foundation believes the Constitution means what it says, because we defend religious freedom, and because we oppose judicial tyranny, we have asked the Court of Appeals to both reverse and renounce this terrible decision.  The First Amendment was designed to protect religion, not encourage hostility against it.