Judge Dismisses Lawsuit That Said Teaching Evolution Was ‘Forcing’ Kids To Accept Atheism

A federal judge in Indiana has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Jason and Jennifer Reinoehl, parents of five public school children, who sought to ban the teaching of evolution in schools, arguing that it amounts to the state coercing students into accepting atheism. The Reinoehls filed the lawsuit in May 2023, targeting the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation, the Indiana State Board of Education, and the Indiana Secretary of Education. Representing themselves as pro se litigants, they claimed that the teaching of evolution caused their family “pain and suffering” by forcing their children to “learn and cite as truth religious origin stories that contradicted their own beliefs.”

Evolution as “Religious Teaching”

In their 35-page complaint, the Reinoehls repeatedly referred to evolution as a “religious teaching” and a “religious myth of evolution.” They argued that evolution is a “highly flawed scientific theory” that does not meet the proper criteria for a scientific hypothesis and has been “scientifically disproven.” They asserted that evolution, much like the Big Bang Theory, cannot be tested and therefore falls outside the realm of science. According to the plaintiffs, scientists only continue to support evolutionary theory because they were “indoctrinated” with it during their education and are now “reluctant to abandon this religious teaching.”

The Reinoehls also drew a peculiar comparison between the acceptance of evolution and the use of artificial sweeteners, claiming that scientists once believed without experimentation that sugar substitutes would help people lose weight, only to be proven wrong when obesity rates increased. They further argued that, like eugenics, which was once taught alongside evolution, the theory of evolution should be removed from the curriculum as “pseudoscience.”

Court Dismisses Claims of Religious Coercion

The defendants in the case, including the school corporation and state education officials, moved to dismiss the lawsuit on both procedural and substantive grounds. They argued that the Reinoehls failed to allege facts that amounted to religious coercion and pointed to the 1968 Supreme Court case Epperson v. Arkansas, which struck down a statute prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public schools. The Court’s decision in Epperson established that teaching evolution does not violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Senior U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker, an 81-year-old appointee of Ronald Reagan, ruled in favor of the defendants, dismissing the Reinoehls’ complaint. Judge Barker quoted from a 1982 district court case that asserted, “It is established in the case law, and perhaps also in common sense, that evolution is not a religion and that teaching evolution does not violate the Establishment Clause.” Barker concluded that whatever similarities might exist between evolutionary theory and atheism, the teaching of evolution in public schools does not constitute a violation of the Constitution.

Plaintiffs Consider Appeal

In response to the dismissal, Jennifer Reinoehl expressed frustration, stating that she had not received an explanation for the case’s dismissal and believed the ruling was due to “some flaw in the complaint” rather than a lack of merit. “It is ridiculous that we continue to teach evolution as ‘scientific truth’ when it has been long disproven,” she said in an email.

This is not the first time the Reinoehls have filed a lawsuit over controversial issues. In 2021, they unsuccessfully sued the Centers for Disease Control and 16 businesses over mask mandates, and in 2024, they challenged Indiana’s ballot access requirements. The Reinoehls have not yet decided whether they will appeal the dismissal of their lawsuit against the teaching of evolution. Attorneys for the defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.