McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education

In 1981, Arkansas passed Act 590 in an attempt to balance public schools’ science curriculum on evolution science by adding creation science to the curriculum. Evolution science was based on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and had been part of the science curriculum of public schools since the late 1950s. Creation science—which was not science according to the essential characteristics of science or the work of scientists—was based on the fundamentalist Christian beliefs that the world was created from nothing and that there was a worldwide flood, which are both stories from the Bible’s Book of Genesis. The act’s definition of creation science included these beliefs, but without specific reference to the Bible. The act was drafted by Paul Ellwanger, a Christian who founded an organization to promote fairness in education and believed that the teaching of evolution was harmful for society. In his communications with politicians while campaigning for the act’s adoption, Ellwanger acknowledged that the true purpose of the act was to advance religious precepts related to creation science; however, he emphasized the benefit of concealing that fact and promoting the act as having a secular purpose. Ellwanger’s act was eventually sent to Senator James L. Holsted, who was a Christian. Without consulting any other parties or referring the act to a senate committee, Holsted introduced the act in the Arkansas Senate, and it was quickly passed. The Arkansas House of Representatives also quickly passed the act after little consideration. Several churches, church officials, religious and secular organizations, teachers, and parents (collectively, plaintiffs) filed suit, claiming, in part, that the act violated the Establishment Clause.