Way back in June we mentioned that a federal judge told the Royal Lane-based Institute for Creation Research that its lawsuit against the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board didn't stand a holy ghost of a chance -- mostly because, well, it didn't make a lick of sense. Which is to say, sure, everybody knew what the ICR wanted -- since '07, it's been trying to get the state to let the school offer a master's degree in science from "a Biblical scientific creationist viewpoint" -- but the initial complaint filed last year and subsequent filings read as though they'd been translated from one language to another and then into English and then back into the original Klingon. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks finally had enough and tossed the whole thing.
At the time it appeared as though the ICR would appeal the judge's ruling. No such luck: Reeve Hamilton at the Texas Tribune directs our attention to a freshly posted piece by ICR's CEO Henry Morris III -- son of the ICR's late founder -- in which he waves the white flag of surrender while recapping the lengthy legal battle and offering a few look-outs along the way. But why the grudge against Don Wilson?
That ruling, unjustified by any commonsense evaluation, adds to the growing and very public animosity toward Christians who take a strong, positive position on the authority and accuracy of the Scriptures. Now, with the federal ruling against ICR, the Texas government may mandate that any private sector college, even those that accept no government funding, may be regulated by the THECB, even to the extreme that the THECB may reject a science education program because it features a creationist viewpoint. The effect of these two major rulings is that private Christian education will now face greater discrimination in California and in Texas -- two states that set educational precedents for the nation.
The message is clear: no science programs offered from a biblical creationist viewpoint are allowed. Even private schools will be judged by the restricted, secular practices of public schools, reinforced by the secular (read "non-Christian") interpretations of the Establishment Clause that now dominate the legal system.
ICR will have more to say on the ramifications of these issues next month. However, please know that, while ICR's legal battle is over, we will not retreat from other public efforts to fight the "Dragon" and his minions. The battle is raging as never before. Evangelicals are intimidated by anti-Christian court victories. Pastors are running from the controversy, and errant "evangelical" groups like the BioLogos Foundation are funded by evolutionists, which emboldens them to attack those who hold fast to the inerrant Word.
