Judge upholds teaching evolution in Indiana public schools

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana’s teaching of the theory of evolution does not violate the state or U.S. constitutions, a federal judge ruled Friday.

Judge Sarah Evans Barker dismissed a lawsuit filed in May 2023 against Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation and state education leaders.

Jennifer and Jason Reinoehl, the parents of five children who lived in the Mishawaka-based district, claimed the state’s requirement to teach evolution in high school classes violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 

The Reinhoels argued major portions of evolutionary theory, including the big bang theory and the fossil record, have been scientifically disproven and advance positions taken by atheists.

“Because the atheistic Theory of Evolution specifically attacks the Judeo-Christian origin story,” the Reinhoels argued, “it has the purpose and effect of advancing the atheist religion.”

Barker rejected those arguments, finding Indiana’s science education standards do not amount to the endorsement of a specific religion.

“Despite Plaintiffs’ assertions to the contrary, the purported similarities between evolution and atheism do not render the teaching of evolution in public schools violative of the Establishment Clause, which has never been understood to prohibit government conduct that incidentally ‘coincide[s] or harmonize[s] with the tenets of some or all religions’,” Barker wrote.

The lawsuit had sought to block the teaching of evolution in all Indiana public schools and to remove books and literature that discuss evolution from those schools.