Does Louisianas Statute Enacting A Balanced Treatment For...

Does Louisiana’s statute enacting a balanced treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment? Louisiana legislators established the Louisiana Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science in Public School Instruction Act. The Act forbids the teaching of the theory of evolution and the theory of â€Å"creation science† in public elementary and secondary schools unless accompanied by the instruction of the theory other. The Act defines the theories as the scientific evidence for creation or evolution and inferences from those scientific evidence. The lower courts established that the Act violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment because it lacked a clear secular purpose. Delivering the Opinion of the Court, Justice Brennan invokes the Lemon test to determine the constitutionality of the Act. He begins by questioning the validity of the Act’s stated secular purpose: â€Å"to promote academic freedom.† He defines â€Å"academic freedom† as â€Å"enhancing the freedom of teachers to teach what they will† (Brennan 2579). Based on the legislative history, the purpose of the legislative sponsor, Senator Bill Keith, was to narrow the scientific curriculum because he stated that his preference would be that neither theories be taught. Thus, J. Brennan sees a ban on teaching that undermines the stated purpose. Moreover, he writes that the Act does not promote a flexibility upon the teachers that was not already