TribBlog: Institute for Creation Research Ends Legal Fight

Henry Morris III, the CEO of the Institute for Creation Research, has announced the end of the school's fight with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

In 2008, after the board denied the institute's request for authority to offer a master's degree in science education, the Dallas-based Christian institution filed a lawsuit. In June, a U.S. District Court ruled against the institute, upholding the board right to refuse the certification.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, assigned to hear the case, complained that he had requested a "a short and plain statement of the relief requested," but that the plaintiff was "entirely unable to file a complaint which is not overly verbose, disjointed, incoherent, maundering, and full of irrelevant information."

At the time of the decision, an institute spokesman issued a statement saying, "The attorneys and leadership of ICR associated with this case are currently reviewing Judge Sparks’ ruling and we are weighing our options regarding future action in this matter."

In the September 2010 issue of the school's newsletter, Acts & Facts, Morris contributes a 1,400-word article announcing, essentially, that "ICR's legal battle is over."  

Here's a short excerpt:

Two critical issues were at stake here. First, ICR is a private, non-profit organization that takes no monies from any state or federal program. As such, our institution should have been exempt from any oversight by the THECB, since their charter only gives them authority over those schools that receive such funding. Secondly, ICR was in no way threatening to invade the public schools, as was alleged by evolution activists, but rather emphatically stated that our mission was for and to Christian schools. Subsequent meetings and a formal mediation with the THECB failed to resolve the matter, so ICR filed suit in order to reverse the THECB ruling.

To be clear, ICR asked for no money in this lawsuit, and we required no outside financial assistance; we did this rather quietly and hopefully, all the while understanding the bias against us. Our effort was to draw out the clear issues and give the courts a chance to allow Christian organizations to pursue their Kingdom "viewpoints" without interference from the government. Unfortunately, after two years of intense interface with both the state and federal judiciary, a federal judge in Austin issued a summary judgment against us…

… 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.