The North Shore Americans United Chapter is hosting a lecture on "Evolution, Creationism, and the First Amendment" by Matt Lowry. Lowry is a physics and astronomy teacher at Lake Forest High School and College of Lake County. He is also the moderator and organizer for Darwin's Bulldogs, a local citizen action group dedicated to promoting the teaching of evolution while battling the teaching of creationism as science in public schools.

Ever since Charles Darwin published his "Origin of Species" in 1859, there has been a backlash against the teaching of evolutionary science. In recent years there has been a concerted and organized effort to undermine the teaching of evolution while promoting a new variant of creationism, called "intelligent design", in public school science classes. From the infamous "Scopes Monkey Trial" in 1925 to last year's ruling in Dover vs. Kitzmiller, there has been a battle in the courts concerning the teaching of creationism vs. evolution.

The talk will provide a brief history of this conflict and the summary of some major court decisions, with considerable attention paid to the recent Dover ruling that teaching "intelligent design" as science is unconstitutional. It will also focus on the separation of church & state and why the Establishment Clause is so important in the defense of good science education in public schools.

This event is free and open to the public. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.