Misplaced Pages

Hendren et al. v. Campbell et al. was a 1977 ruling by an Indiana state superior court that the young-earth creationist textbook could not be used in Indiana public schools. Jon Hendren, a ninth-grade student in the West Clark Community Schools, sued when the district picked Biology: A Search For Order In Complexity, published by the Creation Research Society and promoted through the Institute for Creation Research, as the sole biology textbook. The textbook was edited by creationists John N. Moore and Harold Schultz Slusher.

Decision

The ruling declared: "The question is whether a text obviously designed to present only the view of Biblical Creationism in a favorable light is constitutionally acceptable in the public schools of Indiana. Two hundred years of constitutional government demand that the answer be no." Campbell was a forerunner to the federal decisions in McLean v. Arkansas and Edwards v. Aguillard. In Aguillard, the United States Supreme Court – using logic similar to that in Campbell – ruled that creation science was religiously motivated and could not be taught in public schools.

References

1. Fowler, Dean R. (1982). "The Creationist Movement". The American Biology Teacher. 44 (9): 528–542. doi:10.2307/4447600. JSTOR 4447600.
2. Hendren v. Campbell: Decision Against a Creationist Textbook, Nick Matzke, TalkOrigins Archive, August 20, 2006. Accessed August 20, 2006

This creationism-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• 1977 in United States case law
• 1977 in Indiana
• 1977 in religion
• 1977 controversies in the United States
• Establishment Clause case law
• United States creationism and evolution case law
• Indiana state case law
• Public education in Indiana
• Textbook controversies
• Education in Clark County, Indiana
• Education controversies in the United States
• Creationism stubs