AUSTIN -- A former science curriculum director for the Texas Education Agency has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that she was illegally fired for forwarding an e-mail about a speaker who was critical of teaching a controversial alternative to evolution.
Christina Comer, who lost her job at the TEA last year, said in the suit filed Wednesday against the TEA and Education Commissioner Robert Scott that she was terminated for defying an unconstitutional policy that required employees to be neutral on the subject of creationism -- the biblical interpretation of the origin of human life.
The e-mail, which was intercepted by a state education leader, was about a speaker coming to Austin who had critical views of creationism and the teaching of intelligent design.
Federal courts have ruled that teaching creationism as science in public schools is illegal under the U.S. Constitution's provision preventing government establishment or endorsement of religious beliefs.
"The agency's 'neutrality' policy has the purpose or effect of endorsing religion, and thus violates the Establishment Clause," the lawsuit said.
A TEA spokeswoman would not comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks a court order overturning the TEA's neutrality policy on teaching of creationism, declaring Comer's dismissal unconstitutional and reinstating her in her former job.
In her complaint, Comer said that the actions of the TEA were unconstitutional and based on political motivations to support creationism.
Intelligent design is the belief that the origin of the universe and humans can best be explained by an unknown "intelligent cause" rather than through evolutionary processes such as natural selection and random mutation. Critics, including at least one federal judge, contend that intelligent design is nothing more than creationism and has no business being taught in science classes.
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