Berkley Center

In Epperson v. Arkansas, the Supreme Court held unconstitutional an Arkansas law that prohibited the teaching of evolution in public schools. The Arkansas statute made it unlawful to teach or use textbooks that included the theory of evolution. Epperson was a biology teacher in the Arkansas public school system who sued the state seeking a declaration that the law violated the First Amendment. The Court held that the law violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment because the purpose of the law was to advance a particular religious view. The goal of the law, the Court found, was to prevent teachers from discussing the theory of evolution because it was contrary to the belief of some that the Book of Genesis was the exclusive source of doctrine as to the origin of humanity. The Court ruled that the Establishment Clause does not permit a state to tailor public school teachings to the principles of a particular religion.