Date of Award

Spring 8-1-2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Political Science

First Advisor

Robert Van Sickel

Second Advisor

Stan Buchanan

Third Advisor

Carl Klarner

Abstract

Over the past century, various challenges to the teaching of the theory of evolution have made their way to the courts, with the two most recent dealing with the concept of "intelligent design." The goal of this study is to attempt to find indicators that could help predict how judges will decide these types of cases in the future. Due to the low number of such cases, this study looked at the issue from the broader perspective of conflicts between religion and public schools. Focusing on federal district and appellate courts, sixty-eight cases were selected, with 145 rulings from 121 judges. Two dependent variables, Pro-Religion Rulings and Pro-Civil Liberties Rulings, were tested in twentytwo models using multivariate logistic regression. Independent variables included personal attributes including political party, religious affiliation, age, ethnicity, gender, and career experience in education. Institutional factors were also included, with geographic region and type of court, district or appellate. Trends over time were measured by year of decision and rulings between 1976 and 1985. Lastly, State Level of Christian Orthodoxy examined whether public sentiment affects judicial outcomes. The study found that a judge's political affiliation was the most significant factor. Republican judges are more likely to side with religion and less likely to vote for civil rights arguments. Pro-Civil Liberties Rulings were more likely to occur in states with higher levels of Christian orthodoxy, at both levels of analysis. Catholic judges were more likely than Protestant, Jewish and religiously unaffiliated judges to render Pro-Civil lV Liberties Rulings as well. The findings suggest that religiously-based challenges to teaching evolution are more likely to succeed if the case is heard before Republican judges, while challenges based on individual civil liberties work better before judges who are Catholic and Democrats, and in states with greater levels of Christian orthodoxy.

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