egitimate interest in exposing students and faculty to ID, and that the state have legitimate means by which to accomplish this” (92). Beckwith concludes by arguing that prohibiting ID from public schools would undermine the nature of education, which involves freedom of thought.
The book culminates in chapter 4, where Beckwith considers whether teaching ID in public schools would violate the Establishment Clause. Beckwith effectively argues on the legal principles concerning the definition of religion, examining if ID conforms to such a definition. Compared to previous rulings on creationism, it is clear that ID is not a conventional religious system, and its purpose is to provide answers to some of the questions for which the evolutionary paradigm fails to provide. ID should thus not be disqualified from being taught in public schools as long as it exposes students to new and important scholarship and furthers and protects academic freedom.
Although the book contains numerous references to legal problems and judicial reasoning, Beckwith steadily maneuvers through difficult legal problems and critically evaluates the strength of the courts position. The book is well documented and is extremely thorough. Beckwith's strength is his understanding of constitutional law and his astute philosophical insights. He is thus able to build his case logically and does so with fair treatments of both sides of the issue. This important book is a must for all those who are interested in law, philosophy and religion, and for those who engage in the debate of ID in public schools.