The state American Civil Liberties Union plans to file a federal lawsuit Tuesday against a school district that is requiring students to learn about alternatives to the theory of evolution.
The ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State have scheduled a Tuesday afternoon news conference to discuss the lawsuit against the Dover Area School District, which will be filed in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, ACLU spokesman Paul Silva said Monday.
Neither Silva nor Joe Conn, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, would comment on the specifics of the complaint.
The Dover school board voted 6-3 on Oct. 18 to mandate the teaching of "intelligent design," which holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by some higher power. It is believed to be the first school district in the nation to adopt such a policy.
School administrators have declined to comment on the mandate, which applies to ninth-grade biology classes at Dover High School.
Last month, the district issued a statement saying that state academic standards require the teaching of evolution, which holds that Earth is billions of years old and that life forms developed over millions of years. The statement also says Charles Darwin's theory "is still being tested as new evidence is discovered," and that intelligent design "is an explanation of the origins of life that differs from Darwin's view."
In reviewing the matter, the ACLU has said intelligent design is a more secular form of creationism, a Biblical-based view that credits the origin of species to God, and may violate the constitutional separation of church and state.