FOCUS
Look Who's Backing
`Creation Science'
Private fundamentalist groups
are paying more than $1
million in a legal fight to save
a Louisiana law requiring
schools to teach creationism
as well as evolution.
Edwin Black
Special to the Jewish Times
Q
But it soon was thrown out.
Sources in Guste's office ex-
plain that the storm of legal
pyrotechnics — including
over 50 depositions — quick-
ly exhausted a $75,000 state
appropriation to fight the
case. An assistant to Guste
recalls, "I went to the
legislature for an additional
$100,000 and they turned me
down flat. I went back to the
attorney general and he said,
`I can't bankrupt my entire
budget for this one case.' The
money for this case is at an
end, and if these guys want to
take more depositions and fly
around the country, they're
going to have to find another
way to pay for it."
Re-enter Bill Keith. In late
September 1981, Keith met
with Guste in the attorney
general's Baton Rouge office.
attorney general has a con-
stitutional obligation to de-
fend state legislation. There
had been many efforts to
repeal this law, and none of
them succeeded. But at the
same time the legislature
wouldn't give us the extra
$100,000 we needed to liti-
gate. The attorney general
wouldn't be acting respon-
sibly if he took his' entire
budget for litigation to appeal
this one case, and let every-
thing else fall by the wayside."
But Marc Stern, legal direc-
tor of the American Jewish
Congress, counters, "By
allowing this arrangement, in
effect, the attorney general
didn't retain the fundamen-
talists — the fundamentalists
retained the attorney general.
In fall 1981, Guste an-
nounced that the case would
,
uestions have been
raised about the con-
troversial handling of
Louisiana's tenacious litiga-
tion to permit creation
science to be taught in public
schools. Not only has Loui-
siana Attorney General
William Guste allowed a
private fundamentalist group
to litigate the case, soon to be
heard by the Supreme Court,
he has allowed it to pay for
more than 90 percent of the
state's legal fees and expenses
— to date exceeding a million
dollars. Although nothing
has been done in secret, the
arrangement is not only un-
precedented, it appears to
violate the Louisiana Ethics
Code.
At the center of this con-
flict is an affable and likable
fundamentalist, ex-newsman
Bill Keith of Shreveport,
Louisiana. In 1979, Keith
gave up journalism for a seat
in the state senate and pro-
mptly spearheaded legisla-
tion compelling schools that
teach Darwinian evolution to
devote equal time to teaching
"creation science."
Creation science is the
latest approach to teaching
the Biblical Genesis story in
public schools. All references
to the Bible and God are ab-
sent, allowing proponents
such as Bill Keith to declare,
"We are a science, not a
religion."
Simply put, creation
science, according to Keith,
analyzes the admittedly in-
consistent fossil record, which
is rich in pure life forms such
as frogs, leaves and apes, but
lacking in the transitional life
forms Darwinian evolution
claims. This fossil record sup-
ports a concept the crea-
tionists call "abrupt ap-
pearance," which they say is
consistent with the "creation
story." The creator's name is
scrupulously avoided to ex-
cise any religious preference.
Sam Rabinove, legal direc-
tor of the American Jewish
Committee, offers insight
from a recent unsuccessful
creationist attempt in Arkan-
sas, also involving Keith and
his followers. In the 1981
case, creation scientists ad-
mitted that the creation story
was infallible, recalls
Rabinove. "The Arkansas
judge struck it down, asking
what kind of scientific theory
was not subject to revision?
He concluded that this was
merely religious teaching
masquerading as science."
Many in Louisiana con-
sidered Keith's "Balanced
Treatment for Creation
Science Act" an identical
masquerade even before the
bill was passed. Opponents
charged that if passed, the
predicted constitutional
challenge would cost Loui-
siana taxpayers dearly. The
state Department of Educa-
tion decried an estimated $10
million in new textbooks and
other costs that would be
wasted once the law was held
unconstitutional. But the
creation science movement is
a potent political force in
Louisiana. In July 1981, the
state legislature enacted the
law by a wide margin.
. accommodate critics,
Keith made an agreement
with the Department of
Education allowing it to
delay buying books and tak-
ing other costly measures un-
til the court fight was over.
And in late August 1981,
Keith offered Atlanta crea-
tionist attorney Wendell Bird
at no cost to the state. Bird's
free services were likewise of-
fered to Arkansas Attorney
General Steve Clark during
the 1981 creationist effort in
that state, but Clark's
spokesman James Lee says
they were declined. Describ-
ing the idea as "a dangerous
precedent," Lee asserted,
"When people come in and of-
fer to help, you have to
wonder about their motives."
But in Louisiana, Bird's
services were accepted, and in
fall 1981, he was appointed a
special assistant attorney
general. How was Bird to be
paid? "That was between him
(Bird) and Bill Keith," re-
counts Attorney General
Guste's spokesman Rusty
Jabour. Keith confirms, "I
was to raise the money, and
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he (Guste) never asked me
how I was going to raise it."
In fact, the money was
raised from private donations
— big and small — from crea-
tionists and fundamentalists
across the country. Bird, who
normally charges $125 per
hour, agreed to work at a dis-
counted rate of $100, accor-
ding to sources close to Bird.
Immediately taking the of-
fensive, Special Assistant At-
torney General Bird launched
a massive "pre-emptive suit"
in federal court to establish
the law's constitutionality.
Keith offered the services of
several young attorneys from
the creationist movement,
thus further relieving the
staff drain.
"The attorney general was
not overly enthusiastic,"
Keith recollects. "So I Went a
step further. If he would ap-
point them, I was willing to
set up an organization that
would pay these men's
salaries, transportation,
telephone bills, etc."
"What else could he (Guste)
do?" explained a Guste assis-
tant close to the case. "The
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continue but not at tax-
payers' expense. The Creation
Science Legal Defense Fund
was quickly incorporated
with Keith as president, and
Bird as its lead counsel. As a
tax-deductible entity, CSLDF
began soliciting monies from
across the nation. Among the
donors are major foundations
with a vested interest in crea-
tion science and fundamen-
talist presidential aspirant
Pat Robertson's Freedom
Council.
With a fundamentalist sub-
Continued on Page 43
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