Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns
Encyclopedia
Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns are a series of related public relations
campaigns conducted by the Discovery Institute
which seek to promote intelligent design
while attempting to discredit evolutionary biology, which the Institute terms "Darwinism
." The Discovery Institute is the driving force behind the intelligent design movement
and the Institute directs the campaigns through its Center for Science and Culture
division with guidance from its public relations firm, Creative Response Concepts
.
Prominent Institute campaigns have been to 'Teach the Controversy
' and to allow Critical Analysis of Evolution
. Other campaigns have claimed that intelligent design advocates (most notably Richard Sternberg
) have been discriminated against, and thus that Academic Freedom bills
are needed to protect academics' and teachers' ability to criticise evolution, and that there is a link from evolution to ideologies such as Nazism
and eugenics
. These three claims are all publicised in the pro-ID movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
. Other campaigns have included petitions, most notably A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism
.
The response of the scientific community
has been that the theory of evolution
is accepted by overwhelming scientific consensus
, whereas intelligent design has been rejected, both by the vast majority of scientists and by court findings, as being a religious view and not science.
with "a science consonant with Christian
and theistic
convictions." To accomplish this the Institute has conducted a number of public relations
campaigns. The governing strategy of these various campaigns is called the Wedge strategy
and was first made public when the Institute's "Wedge Document" was leaked on the World Wide Web
in 1999. The Discovery Institute argues that science, due to its reliance on naturalism
, is an inherently materialistic
and atheistic
enterprise and thus the source of many of society's ills, and that "Design theory [intelligent design] promises to reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist worldview."
None of the campaigns are aimed at directly influencing the scientific community, which the Institute considers dogmatic and hidebound, but rather are focused on swaying the opinions of the public and public policy makers, which, if effective, it is hoped will respond by forcing the academic institutions supporting the scientific community to accept the Discovery Institute's redefinition of science. Public high school science curricula has been the most common and visible target of the campaigns, with the Institute publishing its own model lesson plan, the Critical Analysis of Evolution
.
In a Seattle Weekly article, Nina Shapiro quoted Institute founder and president Bruce Chapman
when she wrote that behind all Discovery Institute programs there is an underlying hidden religious agenda:
The Institute's approach has been to position itself as opposed to any required teaching intelligent design, while campaigns such as Teach the Controversy
and Critical Analysis of Evolution
introduce high school students to design arguments through the Discovery Institute-drafted lesson plans. Teach the Controversy and Free Speech on Evolution both require that "competing" or "alternative" "theories" to evolution to be presented while the Critical Analysis of Evolution model lesson plan fills that requirement by listing intelligent design books by Institute Fellows as such alternatives for students.
into public high school science curricula had been derailed when this was found to have violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution
. In an attempt to avoid repeating this violation, the Institute today avoids directly advocating for intelligent design in high school curricula. Instead, it advocates teaching methods that introduce intelligent design ideas (and textbooks) indirectly through a campaign to "Teach the Controversy
" by portraying evolution as "a theory in crisis" and "presenting all the evidence, both for and against, evolution" and teaching "Critical Analysis of Evolution
" (the name of the Institute's model lesson plans on the subject). The Discovery Institute describes their approach as:
Gordy Slack of Salon
interpreted this tactic as follows:
In 2001 Robert T. Pennock
wrote that intelligent design proponents are "manufacturing dissent" in order to explain the absence of scientific debate of their claims:
These teaching methods were promoted by the Institute at the Kansas evolution hearings
in 2005, but were the subject of judicial criticism later in that year in the decision in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
:
Since this censure, the slogan "teach the controversy" has been increasingly superseded by the more oblique "Critical Analysis of Evolution
".
In 2007, three Discovery Institute
members, Stephen C. Meyer
, Scott Minnich
and Paul A. Nelson, co-authored Explore Evolution: The Arguments For and Against Neo-Darwinism
, a biology textbook embodying their 'teach the controversy' philosophy, with illustrator and creationist author Jonathan Moneymaker and Kansas evolution hearings participant Ralph Seelke. The book was published by Hill House Publishers Pty. Ltd. (London and Melbourne), headed by creationist and butterfly photographer Bernard d'Abrera
.
and in the more recent case of Guillermo Gonzalez
's denial of tenure
. As part of a long term strategy the Institute actively promotes an image of intelligent design proponents suffering professional setbacks or failing to advance as victims of "Darwinist inquisitions" conducted by "Thought Police". Critics of intelligent design and the Institute such as PZ Myers
, Eugenie Scott
and Barbara Forrest
frequently find themselves the subjects of unflattering articles on the Institute's blog which ignores or downplays the responses of large scientific and academic organizations rejecting intelligent design while portraying opponents as members of an academic and scientific fringe and minority. Other methods employed by the Institute include what they term "Public Education"; described as exposing 'bigotry and intolerance' to 'public disapproval' often through the Institute's blog Evolutionnews.org, "Personal Assistance"; described as "providing assistance in locating free legal representation from a network of concerned lawyers across the nation" and "investigations" and lobbying of officials by the Institute, "Legal Defense" and "Grassroots Action".
Other purported instances of discrimination publicised by the Discovery Institute include:
Court cases (such as Webster v. New Lenox School District
and Bishop v. Aronov
) have upheld school districts' and universities' right to restrict teaching to a specified curriculum. None of these purported cases of discrimination have been subjected to formal legal or congressional scrutiny.
In August 2007, an upcoming movie publicising a number of these incidents was announced, entitled Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
and starring Ben Stein
.
The term gained exposure when the Institute was widely quoted in the press in 2005 after president Bush publicly spoke in favor of teaching intelligent design alongside evolution as a competing theory and Institute fellow John G. West
responded with a statement framing the issue as a matter of free speech: "President Bush is to be commended for defending free speech on evolution, and supporting the right of students to hear about different scientific views about evolution."
A notable characteristic of this campaign is the Institutes framing
the issues as a confluence of free speech, academic freedom
and discrimination
,
issues which appeal to a large segment of the American population.
The campaign has found traction with the Discovery Institute's constituency, conservative Christians, but has failed to produce gains with a wider audience. Critics of the Institute and intelligent design have alleged that the campaign is founded on intellectual dishonesty
. PZ Myers
describes the "free speech on evolution campaign" as promoting intolerance, lies and distortions, while Wesley R. Elsberry
says 'Free Speech on Evolution' is a "catchphrase" describing false compromises offered by Institute Fellows that introduce intelligent design into science classes indirectly by having teachers "teach the controversy." New Mexicans for Science and Reason (NMSR) cite the Institute's press releases touting 'Free Speech on Evolution' as an example of the Institute promoting what they call "The Lie."
is an awareness
campaign, led annually by the American Library Association
, in an attempt to protect freedom of speech
by celebrating book
s that the ALA claims others have banned or attempted to ban from various venues. In 2006, Discovery Institute Fellow John West nominated the book Of Pandas and People
, on the basis of it being "at the heart of" Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
. However the decision in Kitzmiller made no order regarding Pandas, rendering the basis for considering it to be "banned" highly tenuous, and the assertion was dismissed by Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Deputy Director of the American Library Association
's Office for Intellectual Freedom who does not consider the book banned. The Discovery Institute continued to misrepresent the book as banned in 2007, with the statement that:
In 2007, the Discovery Institute nominated Robert J. Marks
' 'Evolutionary Informatics Lab' web-site as "Banned Item of the Year", after it was deleted from the Baylor University server. However, the site is still accessible, now being hosted on a third party server.
have been introduced in State legislatures in Alabama
, Oklahoma
, Maryland
, Florida
, Louisiana
, Missouri
and Michigan
, based largely upon language drafted by the Discovery Institute
. As of May 2008, none of them have successfully been passed into law.
They purport that teachers, students, and college professors face intimidation and retaliation when discussing scientific criticisms of evolution, and therefore require protection. Critics of the bills point out that there are no credible scientific critiques of evolution. Investigation of the allegations of intimidation and retaliation have found no evidence that it occurs.
In February 2008, the Discovery Institute announced the Academic Freedom Petition campaign, which it is conducting with assistance from Brian Gage Design who provides the Discovery Institute graphic design professional services. The petition states:
Casey Luskin, program officer for public policy and legal affairs at Discovery Institute, is the contact person for the campaign's Model Academic Freedom Statute on Evolution.
links Charles Darwin
's Theory of Evolution to Nazism
, concluding:
This conclusion is however controversial, with professor of history at the University of Louisville
Ann Taylor Allen giving the opinion that Weikart's talk about "Darwinism" is not based on any careful reading of Darwin himself but on vague ideas by a variety of people who presented themselves as "Darwinian." Moreover, fundamental elements of Nazism
like anti-Semitism
cannot be attributed to Darwinism since it predates evolutionary theory. Allen concluded:
Discovery Institute Center for Science and Culture Associate Director John G. West
, in both his book Darwin Day in America and in lectures, has attempted to link Darwin to the eugenics
movement. However, critics point out that:
and Casey Luskin, senior fellows or officers of the Discovery Institute, argued that intelligent design is a valid scientific theory, that the Jones court should not have addressed the question of whether it was a scientific theory, and that the decision will have no effect on the development and adoption of intelligent design as an alternative to standard evolutionary theory. Peter Irons responded to the DeWolf et al. article, arguing that the decision was extremely well reasoned, and that it marks the end to legal efforts by the intelligent design movement
to introduce creationism in public schools. DeWolf et al. responded to the Irons article in the same issue.
trial. It claims that "90.9% of Judge Jones
’ [opinion] on intelligent design as science was taken virtually verbatim from the ACLU
’s proposed 'Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law' submitted to Judge Jones nearly a month before his ruling." The study, though making no specific allegations of wrongdoing, implies that Judge Jones relied upon the plaintiff's submissions in writing his own conclusions of law.
Within a day, the president of the York County Bar Association wrote that parties are required by the courts to submit findings of fact and "a judge can adopt some, all or none of the proposed findings." She added that in the final ruling, a judge's decision "is the judge's findings and it doesn't matter who submitted them". A partner in a York law firm said that "Any attempt to make a stink out of it is absurd."
Several commentators described a number of critical flaws in the study from both a numerical and legal standpoint. Witold Walczak, legal director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania and the ACLU's lead attorney on the case called the Institute's report a stunt: "They're getting no traction in the scientific world so they're trying to do something ... as a PR stunt to get attention, ... That's not how scientists work, ... Discovery Institute is trying to litigate a year-old case in the media." He also said the Discovery Institute staff is not, as it claims, interested in finding scientific truths; it is more interested in a "cultural war," pushing for intelligent design and publicly criticizing a judge.
A subsequent review of the study performed by Wesley Elsberry, author of the text comparison program that was partly responsible for the decision in the case, indicated that only 38% of the complete ruling by Judge Jones actually incorporated the findings of fact and conclusions of law that the plaintiffs proposed that he incorporate, and only 66% of the section (on whether intelligent design was science) incorporated the proposals, not the 90.9% the Discovery Institute claimed was copied in that section. Significantly, Judge Jones adopted only 48% of the plaintiffs’s proposed findings of fact for that section, and rejected 52%, clearly showing that he did not accept the section verbatim.
strategy is to separate intelligent design from previous, more explicitly religious, forms of creationism, and the legal defeats that prohibit them from public school science classrooms. For this reason, the Discovery Institute (and its supporters) make frequent and vehement denials of any connection between intelligent design and creationism. These denials are at times vituperative, for example:
However this assertion has been refuted both in court and academia. In Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
Judge John E. Jones III
found that "the overwhelming evidence at trial established that intelligent design is a religious view, a mere re-labeling of creationism, and not a scientific theory." Numerous books have been written by prominent academics documenting intelligent design as a form of creationism, e.g.:
, Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity
, Physicians and Surgeons who Dissent from Darwinism, and the now-defunct Stand Up For Science.
. It consists of a list of people agreeing with a statement casting doubt on evolution
. The petition was produced by the Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity
(PSSI), a nonprofit organization formed by the Discovery Institute
, and is intended to support the Discovery Institute's campaign to portray intelligent design as a scientifically valid theory
by creating the impression that evolution
lacks broad scientific support. It is similar to the Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns
to discredit evolution
.
The document itself has been the subject of controversy and extensive criticism from a variety of sources. The statement in the document has been branded as poorly worded, misleading and vague. This campaign, like the rest of the Discovery Institute anti-evolution campaigns
, has come under criticism for being misleading and anti-science. The list of signatories represents an insignificant fraction of medical professionals (about 0.02%). The evidence of evolution
is not determined by petitions or polls, but by scientific consensus. This is the reason that the theory of evolution
is overwhelmingly accepted
.
, which they refer to as "Darwin
ian macroevolution
" or "Darwinism
", which are both misleading terms. The statement that the organization subscribes to is titled "Physicians and Surgeons who Dissent from Darwinism" and contains the following text:
Evolutionary synthesis and the theory of evolution
state that random mutation
leads to inherited traits that become more or less common due to non-random natural selection
and random genetic drift
, as well as other mechanisms. Therefore, the PSSI statement is overly vague and worded in a misleading fashion, since few real evolutionary biologists would subscribe to the version of evolution presented by the statement. Evolution does not include the study of the origin of life
, as the statement implies.
The wording of this statement is very similar to the wording of the Discovery Institute
's petition, "A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism
", which has been widely criticized for being inaccurate and misleading.
was formed in 2006. By May 8, 2006, the PSSI Dissent petition had 34 signatories. There were 100 signatories on July 30, 2006. By December 2006, 167 had signed the statement. By May 22, 2007, 252 appeared on the list. As of July 30, 2007, the list included 264 names.
The PSSI invites holders of the M.D.
, D.O., D.D.S., D.M.D., D.V.M., or similar degrees to sign the Dissent petition.
of the Discovery Institute
which has come under extensive criticism from a variety of sources as misleading, poorly phrased and containing only a tiny fraction of professionals in relevant fields.
Statement of "A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism":
The value of the opinions of physicians, surgeons, veterinarians, optometrists and other signatories of this petition is not clear. Referring to the number of people on the Scientific Dissent from Darwinism
list and their claimed relevance, University of Minnesota
biology professor PZ Myers
writes, "Not only is the number that they cite pathetically small, but they rely on getting scientists whose expertise isn't relevant." In analogy, it can be argued that the ‘Physicians’ list represents an insignificant fraction of the total medical profession. Addressing a specific example, Myers says of neurosurgeon Michael Egnor
, who signed both lists, that "The Discovery Institute may like to trumpet his expertise in neurosurgery as an indicator of the significance of his dissent from evolutionary biology, but I think I'd rather trumpet his ignorance of evolutionary biology as an indicator of the uselessness of the Discovery Institute's list." Myers continued to state that the signer "is not only wrong, but he's pretty damn arrogant about it — how else to explain someone who is proud of the fact that he knows nothing about a subject, and is proud of his inability to find sources that would correct his ignorance, even when they're pointed out to him directly? He's like Michael Behe
, in that we can plop mountains of information in front of him, and he'll just blithely claim it doesn't exist."
The compiled list of medical professionals is available on the Internet, where each signatory is listed three times: by last name, by country and by specialty. Most of the doctors who signed the statement are from the United States. As of May 22, 2007 there were 224 signatories from the United States, two signatories from Australia, four signatories from Canada, eight signatories from the United Kingdom and another 14 from nine other countries. The signatories However, this figure should be expected to rise, based on a poll of 1472 US physicians conducted by the "Louis Finkelstein
Institute for Social and Religious Research" at the Jewish Theological Seminary
and HCD Research in Flemington, New Jersey
, from May 13–15, 2005. This study showed that 34% of physician respondents felt more comfortable with intelligent design
than evolution.
include doctors trained or working in a wide range of disciplines, including, addiction
medicine, bariatrics
(i.e., weight loss medicine), dentistry
, dermatology
, hospice care, ophthalmology
, optometry
, plastic surgery
, psychiatry
, radiology
, urology
and veterinary medicine
.
The American Medical Association
estimates that in 2006, there were more than 884,000 physicians in the United States.
In addition, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics
estimated that in May 2003 the US had 97,090 dentists, 63,780 opticians, 22,740 optometrists and 43,890 veterinarians.
Therefore, the total number of US professionals in the fields represented by the "Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity" Dissent petition is at least 1,111,500. That is, the 224 US signatories of the statement represent approximately 0.02% of the total number of US professionals in these fields.
, which was also driven by the Discovery Institute
. The Institute's online petition and Stand Up For Science website where one could sign the petition were prominent features of the campaign. During the period leading up to the Kansas evolution hearings the Institute ran a number radio and print ads across Kansas incorporating many of its slogans, such as "Teach the Controversy
", "Free Speech on Evolution", and "Critical Analysis of Evolution
", and directing readers and listeners to the Discovery Institute
website. As the Kansas debate over the teaching of evolution wound down in Fall 2006 after the conservative Republicans who approved the Critical Analysis of Evolution classroom standards lost their majority in a primary election and the moderate Republicans and Democrats vowed to overturn Discovery Institute-influenced 2005 school science standards and adopt those recommended by a State Board Science Hearing Committee that were rejected by the previous board, the Institute shifted the focus of The Stand Up For Science campaign from Kansas to Texas.
The scientific and science education communities reacted to campaign by saying that it was a misinformation
campaign. Nick Matzke
described the campaign's support for science as "irony
-meter-busting". In response to the campaign Kansas biology teacher Jeremy Mohn founded the competing website, Stand Up for REAL Science.
, and New Scientist
suggests that it is in response to Francis Collins
' recent launch of the BioLogos Institute to promote theistic evolution.
Professor of Education Brian Alters
states in an article published by the NIH that "99.9 percent of scientists accept evolution".
Critics say that the Institute is conducting a deliberate disinformation
campaign. One common criticism is that the rhetoric employed by the Institute in its campaigns is intentionally vague and misleading and that the campaigns mask a near total absence of scientific support and productive research programs. The Templeton Foundation, who once provided grants for conferences and courses to debate intelligent design has since rejected the Discovery Institute's entreaties for more funding, Foundation senior vice president Charles L. Harper Jr. said "They're political - that for us is problematic," and that while Discovery has "always claimed to be focused on the science," "what I see is much more focused on public policy, on public persuasion, on educational advocacy and so forth."
In one of a series of articles in Skeptic
on the movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
, ID critic Ed Brayton noted:
The use of these sites is often in conjunction other intelligent design-related sites registered and operated by Discovery Institute Fellows and associates. William Dembski, for example, registered and operates UncommonDescent.com, OverwhelmingEvidence.com, and DesignInference.com while the institute's Casey Luskin set up IdeaCenter.org.
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
campaigns conducted by the Discovery Institute
Discovery Institute
The Discovery Institute is a non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design...
which seek to promote intelligent design
Intelligent design
Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
while attempting to discredit evolutionary biology, which the Institute terms "Darwinism
Darwinism
Darwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or of evolution, including some ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin....
." The Discovery Institute is the driving force behind the intelligent design movement
Intelligent design movement
The intelligent design movement is a neo-creationist religious campaign for broad social, academic and political change to promote and support the idea of "intelligent design," which asserts that "certain features of the universe and of living things are...
and the Institute directs the campaigns through its Center for Science and Culture
Center for Science and Culture
The Center for Science and Culture , formerly known as the Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture , is part of the Discovery Institute, a conservative Christian think tank in the United States...
division with guidance from its public relations firm, Creative Response Concepts
Creative Response Concepts
Creative Response Concepts Public Relations is an American public relations firm best known for helping to devise the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign attacking John Kerry’s Vietnam War record in the 2004 presidential race....
.
Prominent Institute campaigns have been to 'Teach the Controversy
Teach the Controversy
Teach the Controversy is the name of a Discovery Institute campaign to promote intelligent design, a variant of traditional creationism, while attempting to discredit evolution in United States public high school science courses...
' and to allow Critical Analysis of Evolution
Critical Analysis of Evolution
Critical Analysis of Evolution is the name of both a proposed high school science lesson plan promoting intelligent design and a tactic to promote design using Teach the Controversy promoted by the American think tank, Discovery Institute, originators of the intelligent design movement, as part of...
. Other campaigns have claimed that intelligent design advocates (most notably Richard Sternberg
Richard Sternberg
Richard M. Sternberg is an American scientist. Sternberg believes intelligent design should be part of the discussion about evolution and the origin of life on Earth. Although he is not a proponent of intelligent design, Dr. Sternberg has been critical of the mainstream in evolutionary biology for...
) have been discriminated against, and thus that Academic Freedom bills
Academic Freedom bills
Academic Freedom bills are a series of antievolution bills introduced in state legislatures in the United States between 2004 and 2009. They assert that teachers, students, and college professors face intimidation and retaliation when discussing scientific criticisms of evolution, and therefore...
are needed to protect academics' and teachers' ability to criticise evolution, and that there is a link from evolution to ideologies such as Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
. These three claims are all publicised in the pro-ID movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a 2008 documentary film, directed by Nathan Frankowski and hosted by Ben Stein. The film contends that the mainstream science establishment suppresses academics who believe they see evidence of intelligent design in nature and who criticize evidence supporting...
. Other campaigns have included petitions, most notably A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism
A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism
A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism is a statement issued in 2001 by the Discovery Institute, a conservative non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, USA, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design.The statement expresses skepticism about the ability of random...
.
The response of the scientific community
Scientific community
The scientific community consists of the total body of scientists, its relationships and interactions. It is normally divided into "sub-communities" each working on a particular field within science. Objectivity is expected to be achieved by the scientific method...
has been that the theory of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
is accepted by overwhelming scientific consensus
Scientific consensus
Scientific consensus is the collective judgment, position, and opinion of the community of scientists in a particular field of study. Consensus implies general agreement, though not necessarily unanimity. Scientific consensus is not by itself a scientific argument, and it is not part of the...
, whereas intelligent design has been rejected, both by the vast majority of scientists and by court findings, as being a religious view and not science.
Goal of the campaigns
The over-arching goal of the Institute in conducting the intelligent design campaigns is religious; to replace scienceScience
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
with "a science consonant with Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
and theistic
Theism
Theism, in the broadest sense, is the belief that at least one deity exists.In a more specific sense, theism refers to a doctrine concerning the nature of a monotheistic God and God's relationship to the universe....
convictions." To accomplish this the Institute has conducted a number of public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
campaigns. The governing strategy of these various campaigns is called the Wedge strategy
Wedge strategy
The wedge strategy is a political and social action plan authored by the Discovery Institute, the hub of the intelligent design movement. The strategy was put forth in a Discovery Institute manifesto known as the Wedge Document, which describes a broad social, political, and academic agenda whose...
and was first made public when the Institute's "Wedge Document" was leaked on the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
in 1999. The Discovery Institute argues that science, due to its reliance on naturalism
Naturalism (philosophy)
Naturalism commonly refers to the philosophical viewpoint that the natural universe and its natural laws and forces operate in the universe, and that nothing exists beyond the natural universe or, if it does, it does not affect the natural universe that we know...
, is an inherently materialistic
Materialism
In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
and atheistic
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
enterprise and thus the source of many of society's ills, and that "Design theory [intelligent design] promises to reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist worldview."
None of the campaigns are aimed at directly influencing the scientific community, which the Institute considers dogmatic and hidebound, but rather are focused on swaying the opinions of the public and public policy makers, which, if effective, it is hoped will respond by forcing the academic institutions supporting the scientific community to accept the Discovery Institute's redefinition of science. Public high school science curricula has been the most common and visible target of the campaigns, with the Institute publishing its own model lesson plan, the Critical Analysis of Evolution
Critical Analysis of Evolution
Critical Analysis of Evolution is the name of both a proposed high school science lesson plan promoting intelligent design and a tactic to promote design using Teach the Controversy promoted by the American think tank, Discovery Institute, originators of the intelligent design movement, as part of...
.
In a Seattle Weekly article, Nina Shapiro quoted Institute founder and president Bruce Chapman
Bruce Chapman
Bruce K. Chapman is the director and founder of the Discovery Institute, an American conservative think tank often associated with the religious right. He was previously a journalist, a Republican Party politician and a diplomat.- Political career :After graduating from Harvard University in 1962,...
when she wrote that behind all Discovery Institute programs there is an underlying hidden religious agenda:
The Institute's approach has been to position itself as opposed to any required teaching intelligent design, while campaigns such as Teach the Controversy
Teach the Controversy
Teach the Controversy is the name of a Discovery Institute campaign to promote intelligent design, a variant of traditional creationism, while attempting to discredit evolution in United States public high school science courses...
and Critical Analysis of Evolution
Critical Analysis of Evolution
Critical Analysis of Evolution is the name of both a proposed high school science lesson plan promoting intelligent design and a tactic to promote design using Teach the Controversy promoted by the American think tank, Discovery Institute, originators of the intelligent design movement, as part of...
introduce high school students to design arguments through the Discovery Institute-drafted lesson plans. Teach the Controversy and Free Speech on Evolution both require that "competing" or "alternative" "theories" to evolution to be presented while the Critical Analysis of Evolution model lesson plan fills that requirement by listing intelligent design books by Institute Fellows as such alternatives for students.
Campaign to "teach the controversy"
Previously, attempts to introduce creationismCreationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
into public high school science curricula had been derailed when this was found to have violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
. In an attempt to avoid repeating this violation, the Institute today avoids directly advocating for intelligent design in high school curricula. Instead, it advocates teaching methods that introduce intelligent design ideas (and textbooks) indirectly through a campaign to "Teach the Controversy
Teach the Controversy
Teach the Controversy is the name of a Discovery Institute campaign to promote intelligent design, a variant of traditional creationism, while attempting to discredit evolution in United States public high school science courses...
" by portraying evolution as "a theory in crisis" and "presenting all the evidence, both for and against, evolution" and teaching "Critical Analysis of Evolution
Critical Analysis of Evolution
Critical Analysis of Evolution is the name of both a proposed high school science lesson plan promoting intelligent design and a tactic to promote design using Teach the Controversy promoted by the American think tank, Discovery Institute, originators of the intelligent design movement, as part of...
" (the name of the Institute's model lesson plans on the subject). The Discovery Institute describes their approach as:
Gordy Slack of Salon
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
interpreted this tactic as follows:
In 2001 Robert T. Pennock
Robert T. Pennock
Robert T. Pennock is a philosopher working on the Avida digital organism project at Michigan State University where he has been full professor since 2000. Pennock was a witness in the Kitzmiller v...
wrote that intelligent design proponents are "manufacturing dissent" in order to explain the absence of scientific debate of their claims:
These teaching methods were promoted by the Institute at the Kansas evolution hearings
Kansas evolution hearings
The Kansas evolution hearings were a series of hearings held in Topeka, Kansas, United States May 5 to May 12, 2005 by the Kansas State Board of Education and its State Board Science Hearing Committee to change how evolution and the origin of life would be taught in the state's public high school...
in 2005, but were the subject of judicial criticism later in that year in the decision in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al. was the first direct challenge brought in the United States federal courts testing a public school district policy that required the teaching of intelligent design...
:
Since this censure, the slogan "teach the controversy" has been increasingly superseded by the more oblique "Critical Analysis of Evolution
Critical Analysis of Evolution
Critical Analysis of Evolution is the name of both a proposed high school science lesson plan promoting intelligent design and a tactic to promote design using Teach the Controversy promoted by the American think tank, Discovery Institute, originators of the intelligent design movement, as part of...
".
In 2007, three Discovery Institute
Discovery Institute
The Discovery Institute is a non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design...
members, Stephen C. Meyer
Stephen C. Meyer
Stephen C. Meyer is an American scholar, philosopher and advocate for intelligent design. He helped found the Center for Science and Culture of the Discovery Institute , which is the main organisation behind the intelligent design movement. Before joining the DI, Meyer was a professor at...
, Scott Minnich
Scott Minnich
Scott A. Minnich is an associate professor of microbiology at the University of Idaho, and a fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture...
and Paul A. Nelson, co-authored Explore Evolution: The Arguments For and Against Neo-Darwinism
Explore Evolution: The Arguments For and Against Neo-Darwinism
Explore Evolution: The Arguments For and Against Neo-Darwinism is a supplementary or enrichment biology textbook written by a group of intelligent design supporters and published in 2007...
, a biology textbook embodying their 'teach the controversy' philosophy, with illustrator and creationist author Jonathan Moneymaker and Kansas evolution hearings participant Ralph Seelke. The book was published by Hill House Publishers Pty. Ltd. (London and Melbourne), headed by creationist and butterfly photographer Bernard d'Abrera
Bernard d'Abrera
Bernard d'Abrera is an Australian entomological taxonomist and philosopher of science, particularly noted for his books on true butterflies and larger moths of the world...
.
Campaigns claiming discrimination
The claim that "scientists, teachers, and students are under attack for questioning evolution" and have been discriminated against, is the centerpiece of a number of campaigns conducted by the Institute. Notable among these campaigns is the Sternberg peer review controversySternberg peer review controversy
The Sternberg peer review controversy concerns the conflict arising from the publication of an article supporting the controversial concept of intelligent design in a scientific journal, and the subsequent questions of whether proper editorial procedures had been followed and whether it was...
and in the more recent case of Guillermo Gonzalez
Guillermo Gonzalez (astronomer)
Guillermo Gonzalez is an astrophysicist, proponent of intelligent design, and a professor at Grove City College, a Christian school, in Grove City, Pennsylvania...
's denial of tenure
Tenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
. As part of a long term strategy the Institute actively promotes an image of intelligent design proponents suffering professional setbacks or failing to advance as victims of "Darwinist inquisitions" conducted by "Thought Police". Critics of intelligent design and the Institute such as PZ Myers
PZ Myers
Paul Zachary "PZ" Myers is an American biology professor at the University of Minnesota Morris and the author of the Pharyngula science blog. He is currently an associate professor of biology at UMM, works with zebrafish in the field of evolutionary developmental biology , and also cultivates an...
, Eugenie Scott
Eugenie Scott
Eugenie Carol Scott is an American physical anthropologist who has been the executive director of the National Center for Science Education since 1987...
and Barbara Forrest
Barbara Forrest
Barbara Carroll Forrest is a professor of philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. She is a critic of intelligent design and the Discovery Institute.- Biography :...
frequently find themselves the subjects of unflattering articles on the Institute's blog which ignores or downplays the responses of large scientific and academic organizations rejecting intelligent design while portraying opponents as members of an academic and scientific fringe and minority. Other methods employed by the Institute include what they term "Public Education"; described as exposing 'bigotry and intolerance' to 'public disapproval' often through the Institute's blog Evolutionnews.org, "Personal Assistance"; described as "providing assistance in locating free legal representation from a network of concerned lawyers across the nation" and "investigations" and lobbying of officials by the Institute, "Legal Defense" and "Grassroots Action".
Other purported instances of discrimination publicised by the Discovery Institute include:
- philosopher Francis J. BeckwithFrancis J. BeckwithFrancis J. "Frank" Beckwith is an American Christian philosopher, scholar, debater, and lecturer. Beckwith advocates in the areas of social ethics, legal philosophy, philosophy of religion, intelligent design and the Christian countercult movement. Currently, he is the associate director of the J.M...
's initial failure to gain tenureTenureTenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
from Baylor UniversityBaylor UniversityBaylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...
; - biology teacher Roger DeHart's reassignment at, and later resignation from, Burlington-Edison High SchoolBurlington-Edison High SchoolBurlington-Edison High School is a public secondary school in Burlington, Washington. It serves students in grades 9-12 in the Burlington-Edison School District, including the communities of Burlington, Bow, Edison, and Alger. The current administration is made up of principal Beth VanderVeen, and...
for teaching intelligent design; - Mississippi University for WomenMississippi University for WomenMississippi University for Women, also known as MUW or simply the "W" is a four-year coeducational public university located in Columbus, Mississippi. It was formerly known as Industrial Institute and College and later Mississippi State College for Women...
chemist Nancy Bryson, who was removed as head of the science and mathematics division, purportedly for giving a presentation entitled "Critical Thinking on Evolution", which claimed evidence for intelligent design in nature. After protests, the university decided Bryson could keep the job and insisted her removal had nothing to do with the lecture.
- biologist Caroline CrockerCaroline CrockerCaroline Crocker is an American immunopharmacologist who taught creationist claims about evolution and promoted intelligent design in a biology class at George Mason University in 2005, while employed in a non-tenure track contract position as “contingent faculty”, with no guarantee of a renewal...
, who was barred by George Mason UniversityGeorge Mason UniversityGeorge Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...
from teaching a Cell Biology class over her introduction of intelligent design into it, and whose contract at that university was not renewed; - The closure of the short-lived Evolutionary Informatics Lab formed by Baylor UniversityBaylor UniversityBaylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...
engineering professor Robert J. Marks IIRobert J. Marks IIRobert Jackson Marks II is a Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University and proponent of intelligent design. From 1977 to 2003, he was on the faculty of the University of Washington in Seattle...
, which included Southwestern Baptist Theological SeminarySouthwestern Baptist Theological SeminarySouthwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, is a private, non-profit institution of higher education, associated with the Southern Baptist Convention...
research professor in philosophy William Dembski as a postdoctoral researcherPostdoctoral researcherPostdoctoral research is scholarly research conducted by a person who has recently completed doctoral studies, normally within the previous five years. It is intended to further deepen expertise in a specialist subject, including acquiring novel skills and methods...
. The lab was shut down and its website was deleted because Baylor's administration considered that it violated university policy forbidding professors from creating the impression that their personal views represent Baylor as an institution. Baylor however permitted Marks to resume work in the informatics lab on his own time and maintain his website, provided a disclaimer accompany any intelligent design-advancing research makes clear that the work does not represent the university's position.
Court cases (such as Webster v. New Lenox School District
Webster v. New Lenox School District
Webster v. New Lenox School District was a 1990 court case in New Lenox, Illinois, in which a social studies teacher Ray Webster sued his school district which he accused of violating his first amendment right to free speech for stopping him from teaching "creation science" in class...
and Bishop v. Aronov
Bishop v. Aronov
Bishop v. Aronov, 926 F.2d 1066 , was a 1991 legal case in which Phillip A. Bishop, an exercise physiology professor at the University of Alabama, sued the college on free speech and academic freedom grounds, when it instructed him not to teach "intelligent design theory" in an extracurricular...
) have upheld school districts' and universities' right to restrict teaching to a specified curriculum. None of these purported cases of discrimination have been subjected to formal legal or congressional scrutiny.
In August 2007, an upcoming movie publicising a number of these incidents was announced, entitled Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a 2008 documentary film, directed by Nathan Frankowski and hosted by Ben Stein. The film contends that the mainstream science establishment suppresses academics who believe they see evidence of intelligent design in nature and who criticize evidence supporting...
and starring Ben Stein
Ben Stein
Benjamin Jeremy "Ben" Stein is an American actor, writer, lawyer, and commentator on political and economic issues. He attained early success as a speechwriter for American presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
.
Free Speech on Evolution campaign
The primary message of the campaign was:The term gained exposure when the Institute was widely quoted in the press in 2005 after president Bush publicly spoke in favor of teaching intelligent design alongside evolution as a competing theory and Institute fellow John G. West
John G. West
John G. West is a Senior Fellow at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute , and Associate Director and Vice President for Public Policy and Legal Affairs of its Center for Science and Culture , which serves as the main hub of the Intelligent design movement.-Biography:West received an undergraduate...
responded with a statement framing the issue as a matter of free speech: "President Bush is to be commended for defending free speech on evolution, and supporting the right of students to hear about different scientific views about evolution."
A notable characteristic of this campaign is the Institutes framing
Framing (social sciences)
A frame in social theory consists of a schema of interpretation — that is, a collection of anecdotes and stereotypes—that individuals rely on to understand and respond to events. In simpler terms, people build a series of mental filters through biological and cultural influences. They use these...
the issues as a confluence of free speech, academic freedom
Academic freedom
Academic freedom is the belief that the freedom of inquiry by students and faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy, and that scholars should have freedom to teach or communicate ideas or facts without being targeted for repression, job loss, or imprisonment.Academic freedom is a...
and discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
,
issues which appeal to a large segment of the American population.
The campaign has found traction with the Discovery Institute's constituency, conservative Christians, but has failed to produce gains with a wider audience. Critics of the Institute and intelligent design have alleged that the campaign is founded on intellectual dishonesty
Intellectual dishonesty
Intellectual dishonesty is dishonesty in performing intellectual activities like thought or communication. Examples are:* the advocacy of a position which the advocate knows or believes to be false or misleading...
. PZ Myers
PZ Myers
Paul Zachary "PZ" Myers is an American biology professor at the University of Minnesota Morris and the author of the Pharyngula science blog. He is currently an associate professor of biology at UMM, works with zebrafish in the field of evolutionary developmental biology , and also cultivates an...
describes the "free speech on evolution campaign" as promoting intolerance, lies and distortions, while Wesley R. Elsberry
Wesley R. Elsberry
Dr. Wesley Royce Elsberry is a marine biologist with an interdisciplinary background in zoology, computer science, and wildlife and fisheries sciences. He has become involved in the creation-evolution controversy.- Biography :...
says 'Free Speech on Evolution' is a "catchphrase" describing false compromises offered by Institute Fellows that introduce intelligent design into science classes indirectly by having teachers "teach the controversy." New Mexicans for Science and Reason (NMSR) cite the Institute's press releases touting 'Free Speech on Evolution' as an example of the Institute promoting what they call "The Lie."
Campaigns portraying books and sites as banned
Banned Books WeekBanned Books Week
Banned Books Week is an annual awareness campaign that celebrates the freedom to read, draws attention to banned and challenged books, and highlights persecuted individuals...
is an awareness
Awareness
Awareness is the state or ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events, objects or sensory patterns. In this level of consciousness, sense data can be confirmed by an observer without necessarily implying understanding. More broadly, it is the state or quality of being aware of...
campaign, led annually by the American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
, in an attempt to protect freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
by celebrating book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
s that the ALA claims others have banned or attempted to ban from various venues. In 2006, Discovery Institute Fellow John West nominated the book Of Pandas and People
Of Pandas and People
Of Pandas and People: The Central Question of Biological Origins is a controversial 1989 school-level textbook written by Percival Davis and Dean H. Kenyon and published by the Texas-based Foundation for Thought and Ethics...
, on the basis of it being "at the heart of" Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al. was the first direct challenge brought in the United States federal courts testing a public school district policy that required the teaching of intelligent design...
. However the decision in Kitzmiller made no order regarding Pandas, rendering the basis for considering it to be "banned" highly tenuous, and the assertion was dismissed by Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Deputy Director of the American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
's Office for Intellectual Freedom who does not consider the book banned. The Discovery Institute continued to misrepresent the book as banned in 2007, with the statement that:
In 2007, the Discovery Institute nominated Robert J. Marks
Robert J. Marks II
Robert Jackson Marks II is a Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University and proponent of intelligent design. From 1977 to 2003, he was on the faculty of the University of Washington in Seattle...
' 'Evolutionary Informatics Lab' web-site as "Banned Item of the Year", after it was deleted from the Baylor University server. However, the site is still accessible, now being hosted on a third party server.
Academic freedom campaign
Between 2004 and 2008 a number of anti-evolution 'Academic Freedom' billsBill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
have been introduced in State legislatures in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
and Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, based largely upon language drafted by the Discovery Institute
Discovery Institute
The Discovery Institute is a non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design...
. As of May 2008, none of them have successfully been passed into law.
They purport that teachers, students, and college professors face intimidation and retaliation when discussing scientific criticisms of evolution, and therefore require protection. Critics of the bills point out that there are no credible scientific critiques of evolution. Investigation of the allegations of intimidation and retaliation have found no evidence that it occurs.
In February 2008, the Discovery Institute announced the Academic Freedom Petition campaign, which it is conducting with assistance from Brian Gage Design who provides the Discovery Institute graphic design professional services. The petition states:
Casey Luskin, program officer for public policy and legal affairs at Discovery Institute, is the contact person for the campaign's Model Academic Freedom Statute on Evolution.
Campaigns to link evolution to nazism and eugenics
In his 2004 book From Darwin to Hitler, Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics and Racism in Germany, Discovery Institute fellow Richard WeikartRichard Weikart
Richard Weikart is a professor of history at California State University, Stanislaus, and is a senior fellow for the Center for Science and Culture of the Discovery Institute. In 1997 he joined the editorial board of the Access Research Network's Origins & Design Journal...
links Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
's Theory of Evolution to Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
, concluding:
This conclusion is however controversial, with professor of history at the University of Louisville
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General...
Ann Taylor Allen giving the opinion that Weikart's talk about "Darwinism" is not based on any careful reading of Darwin himself but on vague ideas by a variety of people who presented themselves as "Darwinian." Moreover, fundamental elements of Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
like anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
cannot be attributed to Darwinism since it predates evolutionary theory. Allen concluded:
Discovery Institute Center for Science and Culture Associate Director John G. West
John G. West
John G. West is a Senior Fellow at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute , and Associate Director and Vice President for Public Policy and Legal Affairs of its Center for Science and Culture , which serves as the main hub of the Intelligent design movement.-Biography:West received an undergraduate...
, in both his book Darwin Day in America and in lectures, has attempted to link Darwin to the eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
movement. However, critics point out that:
- this movement came to prominence during the 'eclipse' of Darwinian evolution in the early 20th century;
- the popular support for eugenics was matched with popular opposition to teaching evolution;
- "while many biologists did support eugenic policies, many important biologists did not";
- it was evolutionary biology that provided information debunking eugenics;
- West quoted Darwin out of context in order to misrepresent him as supporting eugenics; and
- prominent evolutionary biologists, such as Stephen Jay GouldStephen Jay GouldStephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
have spoken out against eugenics. - "on the whole the evangelicalEvangelicalismEvangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
mainstream [...] appeared apathetic, acquiescent, or at times downright supportive of the eugenics movement" between 1900 and 1940.
For deciding whether intelligent design is science
David K. DeWolf, John G. WestJohn G. West
John G. West is a Senior Fellow at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute , and Associate Director and Vice President for Public Policy and Legal Affairs of its Center for Science and Culture , which serves as the main hub of the Intelligent design movement.-Biography:West received an undergraduate...
and Casey Luskin, senior fellows or officers of the Discovery Institute, argued that intelligent design is a valid scientific theory, that the Jones court should not have addressed the question of whether it was a scientific theory, and that the decision will have no effect on the development and adoption of intelligent design as an alternative to standard evolutionary theory. Peter Irons responded to the DeWolf et al. article, arguing that the decision was extremely well reasoned, and that it marks the end to legal efforts by the intelligent design movement
Intelligent design movement
The intelligent design movement is a neo-creationist religious campaign for broad social, academic and political change to promote and support the idea of "intelligent design," which asserts that "certain features of the universe and of living things are...
to introduce creationism in public schools. DeWolf et al. responded to the Irons article in the same issue.
"Study" criticizing Judge Jones
The Discovery Institute and its fellows publishing several articles describing a "study" performed by the Discovery Institute criticizing the judge in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School DistrictKitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al. was the first direct challenge brought in the United States federal courts testing a public school district policy that required the teaching of intelligent design...
trial. It claims that "90.9% of Judge Jones
John E. Jones III
John Edward Jones III is an American lawyer and jurist from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A Republican, Jones was appointed by President George W. Bush as federal judge on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in February 2002 and was unanimously confirmed by...
’ [opinion] on intelligent design as science was taken virtually verbatim from the ACLU
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
’s proposed 'Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law' submitted to Judge Jones nearly a month before his ruling." The study, though making no specific allegations of wrongdoing, implies that Judge Jones relied upon the plaintiff's submissions in writing his own conclusions of law.
Within a day, the president of the York County Bar Association wrote that parties are required by the courts to submit findings of fact and "a judge can adopt some, all or none of the proposed findings." She added that in the final ruling, a judge's decision "is the judge's findings and it doesn't matter who submitted them". A partner in a York law firm said that "Any attempt to make a stink out of it is absurd."
Several commentators described a number of critical flaws in the study from both a numerical and legal standpoint. Witold Walczak, legal director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania and the ACLU's lead attorney on the case called the Institute's report a stunt: "They're getting no traction in the scientific world so they're trying to do something ... as a PR stunt to get attention, ... That's not how scientists work, ... Discovery Institute is trying to litigate a year-old case in the media." He also said the Discovery Institute staff is not, as it claims, interested in finding scientific truths; it is more interested in a "cultural war," pushing for intelligent design and publicly criticizing a judge.
A subsequent review of the study performed by Wesley Elsberry, author of the text comparison program that was partly responsible for the decision in the case, indicated that only 38% of the complete ruling by Judge Jones actually incorporated the findings of fact and conclusions of law that the plaintiffs proposed that he incorporate, and only 66% of the section (on whether intelligent design was science) incorporated the proposals, not the 90.9% the Discovery Institute claimed was copied in that section. Significantly, Judge Jones adopted only 48% of the plaintiffs’s proposed findings of fact for that section, and rejected 52%, clearly showing that he did not accept the section verbatim.
"Intelligent design is not creationism"
One of the principal rationales behind intelligent design's neo-creationistNeo-creationism
Neo-creationism is a movement whose goal is to restate creationism in terms more likely to be well received by the public, policy makers, educators, and the scientific community. It aims to re-frame the debate over the origins of life in non-religious terms and without appeals to scripture. This...
strategy is to separate intelligent design from previous, more explicitly religious, forms of creationism, and the legal defeats that prohibit them from public school science classrooms. For this reason, the Discovery Institute (and its supporters) make frequent and vehement denials of any connection between intelligent design and creationism. These denials are at times vituperative, for example:
However this assertion has been refuted both in court and academia. In Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al. was the first direct challenge brought in the United States federal courts testing a public school district policy that required the teaching of intelligent design...
Judge John E. Jones III
John E. Jones III
John Edward Jones III is an American lawyer and jurist from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A Republican, Jones was appointed by President George W. Bush as federal judge on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in February 2002 and was unanimously confirmed by...
found that "the overwhelming evidence at trial established that intelligent design is a religious view, a mere re-labeling of creationism, and not a scientific theory." Numerous books have been written by prominent academics documenting intelligent design as a form of creationism, e.g.:
- Creationism's Trojan HorseCreationism's Trojan HorseCreationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design is a 2004 book by Barbara Forrest and Paul R. Gross on the origins of intelligent design, specifically the Discovery Institute's Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture and its wedge strategy...
- The Wedge of Intelligent Design by Barbara ForrestBarbara ForrestBarbara Carroll Forrest is a professor of philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. She is a critic of intelligent design and the Discovery Institute.- Biography :...
and Paul R. GrossPaul R. GrossPaul R. Gross is a biologist and author, perhaps best known to the general public for Higher Superstition , written with Norman Levitt. Gross is the University Professor of Life Sciences at the University of Virginia; he previously served the university as Provost and Vice-President... - The CreationistsThe CreationistsThe Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design is a history of the origins of anti-evolutionism, first published in 1992 by Ronald Numbers as The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism...
, From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design by Ronald NumbersRonald NumbersRonald L. Numbers is an American historian of science. He was awarded the 2008 George Sarton Medal by the History of Science Society for "a lifetime of exceptional scholarly achievement by a distinguished scholar".- Biography :... - Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creationism by Robert T. PennockRobert T. PennockRobert T. Pennock is a philosopher working on the Avida digital organism project at Michigan State University where he has been full professor since 2000. Pennock was a witness in the Kitzmiller v...
Petition campaigns
The Discovery Institute has created a number of petitions to give the impression that there are widespread doubts about the Theory of Evolution among scientists and scientifically-literate professionals. These petitions include A Scientific Dissent From DarwinismA Scientific Dissent From Darwinism
A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism is a statement issued in 2001 by the Discovery Institute, a conservative non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, USA, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design.The statement expresses skepticism about the ability of random...
, Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity
Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity
The Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity , formally registered as PSSI International Inc, is a nonprofit anti-evolution organization promoting intelligent design associated with the Discovery Institute, based in Clearwater, Florida...
, Physicians and Surgeons who Dissent from Darwinism, and the now-defunct Stand Up For Science.
Physicians and Surgeons who Dissent from Darwinism
Physicians and Surgeons who Dissent from Darwinism is a petition promoting intelligent designIntelligent design
Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
. It consists of a list of people agreeing with a statement casting doubt on evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
. The petition was produced by the Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity
Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity
The Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity , formally registered as PSSI International Inc, is a nonprofit anti-evolution organization promoting intelligent design associated with the Discovery Institute, based in Clearwater, Florida...
(PSSI), a nonprofit organization formed by the Discovery Institute
Discovery Institute
The Discovery Institute is a non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design...
, and is intended to support the Discovery Institute's campaign to portray intelligent design as a scientifically valid theory
Theory
The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...
by creating the impression that evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
lacks broad scientific support. It is similar to the Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns
Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns
Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns are a series of related public relations campaigns conducted by the Discovery Institute which seek to promote intelligent design while attempting to discredit evolutionary biology, which the Institute terms "Darwinism." The Discovery Institute is the...
to discredit evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
.
The document itself has been the subject of controversy and extensive criticism from a variety of sources. The statement in the document has been branded as poorly worded, misleading and vague. This campaign, like the rest of the Discovery Institute anti-evolution campaigns
Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns
Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns are a series of related public relations campaigns conducted by the Discovery Institute which seek to promote intelligent design while attempting to discredit evolutionary biology, which the Institute terms "Darwinism." The Discovery Institute is the...
, has come under criticism for being misleading and anti-science. The list of signatories represents an insignificant fraction of medical professionals (about 0.02%). The evidence of evolution
Evidence of evolution
of living things has been discovered by scientists working in a variety of fields over many years. This evidence has demonstrated and verified the occurrence of evolution and provided a wealth of information on the natural processes by which the variety and diversity of life on Earth developed...
is not determined by petitions or polls, but by scientific consensus. This is the reason that the theory of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
is overwhelmingly accepted
Level of support for evolution
The level of support for evolution among scientists, the public and other groups is a topic that frequently arises in the creation-evolution controversy and touches on educational, religious, philosophical, scientific and political issues. The subject is primarily contentious in the United States...
.
Statement
The medical doctors and comparable professionals are signatories to a statement which disputes evolutionEvolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
, which they refer to as "Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
ian macroevolution
Macroevolution
Macroevolution is evolution on a scale of separated gene pools. Macroevolutionary studies focus on change that occurs at or above the level of species, in contrast with microevolution, which refers to smaller evolutionary changes within a species or population.The process of speciation may fall...
" or "Darwinism
Darwinism
Darwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or of evolution, including some ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin....
", which are both misleading terms. The statement that the organization subscribes to is titled "Physicians and Surgeons who Dissent from Darwinism" and contains the following text:
Evolutionary synthesis and the theory of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
state that random mutation
Mutation
In molecular biology and genetics, mutations are changes in a genomic sequence: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome or the DNA or RNA sequence of a virus. They can be defined as sudden and spontaneous changes in the cell. Mutations are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic...
leads to inherited traits that become more or less common due to non-random natural selection
Natural selection
Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....
and random genetic drift
Genetic drift
Genetic drift or allelic drift is the change in the frequency of a gene variant in a population due to random sampling.The alleles in the offspring are a sample of those in the parents, and chance has a role in determining whether a given individual survives and reproduces...
, as well as other mechanisms. Therefore, the PSSI statement is overly vague and worded in a misleading fashion, since few real evolutionary biologists would subscribe to the version of evolution presented by the statement. Evolution does not include the study of the origin of life
Abiogenesis
Abiogenesis or biopoesis is the study of how biological life arises from inorganic matter through natural processes, and the method by which life on Earth arose...
, as the statement implies.
The wording of this statement is very similar to the wording of the Discovery Institute
Discovery Institute
The Discovery Institute is a non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design...
's petition, "A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism
A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism
A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism is a statement issued in 2001 by the Discovery Institute, a conservative non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, USA, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design.The statement expresses skepticism about the ability of random...
", which has been widely criticized for being inaccurate and misleading.
History
The Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific IntegrityPhysicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity
The Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity , formally registered as PSSI International Inc, is a nonprofit anti-evolution organization promoting intelligent design associated with the Discovery Institute, based in Clearwater, Florida...
was formed in 2006. By May 8, 2006, the PSSI Dissent petition had 34 signatories. There were 100 signatories on July 30, 2006. By December 2006, 167 had signed the statement. By May 22, 2007, 252 appeared on the list. As of July 30, 2007, the list included 264 names.
The PSSI invites holders of the M.D.
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
, D.O., D.D.S., D.M.D., D.V.M., or similar degrees to sign the Dissent petition.
Analysis
The statement is similar to the one of the A Scientific Dissent from DarwinismA Scientific Dissent From Darwinism
A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism is a statement issued in 2001 by the Discovery Institute, a conservative non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, USA, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design.The statement expresses skepticism about the ability of random...
of the Discovery Institute
Discovery Institute
The Discovery Institute is a non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design...
which has come under extensive criticism from a variety of sources as misleading, poorly phrased and containing only a tiny fraction of professionals in relevant fields.
Statement of "A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism":
The value of the opinions of physicians, surgeons, veterinarians, optometrists and other signatories of this petition is not clear. Referring to the number of people on the Scientific Dissent from Darwinism
A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism
A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism is a statement issued in 2001 by the Discovery Institute, a conservative non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, USA, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design.The statement expresses skepticism about the ability of random...
list and their claimed relevance, University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
biology professor PZ Myers
PZ Myers
Paul Zachary "PZ" Myers is an American biology professor at the University of Minnesota Morris and the author of the Pharyngula science blog. He is currently an associate professor of biology at UMM, works with zebrafish in the field of evolutionary developmental biology , and also cultivates an...
writes, "Not only is the number that they cite pathetically small, but they rely on getting scientists whose expertise isn't relevant." In analogy, it can be argued that the ‘Physicians’ list represents an insignificant fraction of the total medical profession. Addressing a specific example, Myers says of neurosurgeon Michael Egnor
Michael Egnor
Michael Egnor is a neurosurgeon and intelligent design supporter. He has been a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Stony Brook University since 1991...
, who signed both lists, that "The Discovery Institute may like to trumpet his expertise in neurosurgery as an indicator of the significance of his dissent from evolutionary biology, but I think I'd rather trumpet his ignorance of evolutionary biology as an indicator of the uselessness of the Discovery Institute's list." Myers continued to state that the signer "is not only wrong, but he's pretty damn arrogant about it — how else to explain someone who is proud of the fact that he knows nothing about a subject, and is proud of his inability to find sources that would correct his ignorance, even when they're pointed out to him directly? He's like Michael Behe
Michael Behe
Michael J. Behe is an American biochemist, author, and intelligent design advocate. He currently serves as professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and as a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture...
, in that we can plop mountains of information in front of him, and he'll just blithely claim it doesn't exist."
The compiled list of medical professionals is available on the Internet, where each signatory is listed three times: by last name, by country and by specialty. Most of the doctors who signed the statement are from the United States. As of May 22, 2007 there were 224 signatories from the United States, two signatories from Australia, four signatories from Canada, eight signatories from the United Kingdom and another 14 from nine other countries. The signatories However, this figure should be expected to rise, based on a poll of 1472 US physicians conducted by the "Louis Finkelstein
Louis Finkelstein
Rabbi Louis Finkelstein was a Talmud scholar, an expert in Jewish law, and a leader of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and Conservative Judaism.-Brief Biography:...
Institute for Social and Religious Research" at the Jewish Theological Seminary
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism, and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies.JTS operates five schools: Albert A...
and HCD Research in Flemington, New Jersey
Flemington, New Jersey
Flemington is a borough in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the borough population was 4,581. It is the county seat of Hunterdon County....
, from May 13–15, 2005. This study showed that 34% of physician respondents felt more comfortable with intelligent design
Intelligent design
Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
than evolution.
include doctors trained or working in a wide range of disciplines, including, addiction
Substance dependence
The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...
medicine, bariatrics
Bariatrics
Bariatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention, and treatment of obesity. The term bariatrics was created around 1965, from the Greek root bar- , suffix -iatr , and suffix -ic...
(i.e., weight loss medicine), dentistry
Dentistry
Dentistry is the branch of medicine that is involved in the study, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial area and the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body. Dentistry is widely considered...
, dermatology
Dermatology
Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin and its diseases, a unique specialty with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist takes care of diseases, in the widest sense, and some cosmetic problems of the skin, scalp, hair, and nails....
, hospice care, ophthalmology
Ophthalmology
Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine that deals with the anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye. An ophthalmologist is a specialist in medical and surgical eye problems...
, optometry
Optometry
Optometry is a health care profession concerned with eyes and related structures, as well as vision, visual systems, and vision information processing in humans. Optometrists, or Doctors of Optometry, are state licensed medical professionals trained to prescribe and fit lenses to improve vision,...
, plastic surgery
Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...
, psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
, radiology
Radiology
Radiology is a medical specialty that employs the use of imaging to both diagnose and treat disease visualized within the human body. Radiologists use an array of imaging technologies to diagnose or treat diseases...
, urology
Urology
Urology is the medical and surgical specialty that focuses on the urinary tracts of males and females, and on the reproductive system of males. Medical professionals specializing in the field of urology are called urologists and are trained to diagnose, treat, and manage patients with urological...
and veterinary medicine
Veterinary medicine
Veterinary Medicine is the branch of science that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, disorder and injury in non-human animals...
.
The American Medical Association
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of medical doctors and medical students in the United States.-Scope and operations:...
estimates that in 2006, there were more than 884,000 physicians in the United States.
In addition, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics. The BLS is a governmental statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes, and...
estimated that in May 2003 the US had 97,090 dentists, 63,780 opticians, 22,740 optometrists and 43,890 veterinarians.
Therefore, the total number of US professionals in the fields represented by the "Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity" Dissent petition is at least 1,111,500. That is, the 224 US signatories of the statement represent approximately 0.02% of the total number of US professionals in these fields.
Stand Up For Science
The Stand Up For Science campaign originated in July 2006 leading up to the showdown in the Kansas Board of Education that began with Kansas evolution hearingsKansas evolution hearings
The Kansas evolution hearings were a series of hearings held in Topeka, Kansas, United States May 5 to May 12, 2005 by the Kansas State Board of Education and its State Board Science Hearing Committee to change how evolution and the origin of life would be taught in the state's public high school...
, which was also driven by the Discovery Institute
Discovery Institute
The Discovery Institute is a non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design...
. The Institute's online petition and Stand Up For Science website where one could sign the petition were prominent features of the campaign. During the period leading up to the Kansas evolution hearings the Institute ran a number radio and print ads across Kansas incorporating many of its slogans, such as "Teach the Controversy
Teach the Controversy
Teach the Controversy is the name of a Discovery Institute campaign to promote intelligent design, a variant of traditional creationism, while attempting to discredit evolution in United States public high school science courses...
", "Free Speech on Evolution", and "Critical Analysis of Evolution
Critical Analysis of Evolution
Critical Analysis of Evolution is the name of both a proposed high school science lesson plan promoting intelligent design and a tactic to promote design using Teach the Controversy promoted by the American think tank, Discovery Institute, originators of the intelligent design movement, as part of...
", and directing readers and listeners to the Discovery Institute
Discovery Institute
The Discovery Institute is a non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design...
website. As the Kansas debate over the teaching of evolution wound down in Fall 2006 after the conservative Republicans who approved the Critical Analysis of Evolution classroom standards lost their majority in a primary election and the moderate Republicans and Democrats vowed to overturn Discovery Institute-influenced 2005 school science standards and adopt those recommended by a State Board Science Hearing Committee that were rejected by the previous board, the Institute shifted the focus of The Stand Up For Science campaign from Kansas to Texas.
The scientific and science education communities reacted to campaign by saying that it was a misinformation
Misinformation
Misinformation is false or inaccurate information that is spread unintentionally. It is distinguished from disinformation by motive in that misinformation is simply erroneous, while disinformation, in contrast, is intended to mislead....
campaign. Nick Matzke
Nick Matzke
Nicholas J. Matzke is the former Public Information Project Director at the National Center for Science Education and served an instrumental role in NCSE's preparation for the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial...
described the campaign's support for science as "irony
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
-meter-busting". In response to the campaign Kansas biology teacher Jeremy Mohn founded the competing website, Stand Up for REAL Science.
Campaign attacking theistic evolution
On May 26, 2009, the Discovery Institute announced a new website, FaithandEvolution.Org. The site attacks theistic evolutionTheistic evolution
Theistic evolution or evolutionary creation is a concept that asserts that classical religious teachings about God are compatible with the modern scientific understanding about biological evolution...
, and New Scientist
New Scientist
New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
suggests that it is in response to Francis Collins
Francis Collins
Francis Collins may refer to:*Francis Collins , geneticist*Francis Dolan Collins , 19th century American politician-See also:*Frank Collins *Francis Collings, BBC journalist*Francis Collin, English footballer...
' recent launch of the BioLogos Institute to promote theistic evolution.
Criticism of the campaigns
Every leading scientific professional organization has through position statements unequivocally endorsed evolution as a widely accepted and well-proven theory. McGill UniversityMcGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
Professor of Education Brian Alters
Brian Alters
Brian J. Alters is an Associate Professor of Education and Sir William Dawson Scholar at McGill University, where he also holds the Tomlinson Chair in Science Education and is both founder and Director of the Evolution Education Research Centre...
states in an article published by the NIH that "99.9 percent of scientists accept evolution".
Critics say that the Institute is conducting a deliberate disinformation
Disinformation
Disinformation is intentionally false or inaccurate information that is spread deliberately. For this reason, it is synonymous with and sometimes called black propaganda. It is an act of deception and false statements to convince someone of untruth...
campaign. One common criticism is that the rhetoric employed by the Institute in its campaigns is intentionally vague and misleading and that the campaigns mask a near total absence of scientific support and productive research programs. The Templeton Foundation, who once provided grants for conferences and courses to debate intelligent design has since rejected the Discovery Institute's entreaties for more funding, Foundation senior vice president Charles L. Harper Jr. said "They're political - that for us is problematic," and that while Discovery has "always claimed to be focused on the science," "what I see is much more focused on public policy, on public persuasion, on educational advocacy and so forth."
In one of a series of articles in Skeptic
Skeptic (U.S. magazine)
Skeptic is a quarterly science education and science advocacy magazine published internationally by The Skeptics Society, a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting scientific skepticism and resisting the spread of pseudoscience, superstition, and irrational beliefs...
on the movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a 2008 documentary film, directed by Nathan Frankowski and hosted by Ben Stein. The film contends that the mainstream science establishment suppresses academics who believe they see evidence of intelligent design in nature and who criticize evidence supporting...
, ID critic Ed Brayton noted:
Campaign-related websites operated by the Discovery Institute
The Discovery Institute has registered over two hundred website domain names. The list of intelligent design- related websites registered by the institute includes:- IntelligentDesign.org
- EvolutionNews.org
- IDTheFuture.com
- DissentFromDarwin.org
- DarwinAndDesign.com
- DarwinismAndID.com
- IconsofEvolution.com
- FromDarwinToHitler.com
- PriviledgedPlanet.com
- DarwinDayInAmerica.com
- JudgingPBS.com
The use of these sites is often in conjunction other intelligent design-related sites registered and operated by Discovery Institute Fellows and associates. William Dembski, for example, registered and operates UncommonDescent.com, OverwhelmingEvidence.com, and DesignInference.com while the institute's Casey Luskin set up IdeaCenter.org.
See also
- DenialismDenialismDenialism is choosing to deny reality as a way to avoid an uncomfortable truth: "[it] is the refusal to accept an empirically verifiable reality...
- Framing (social sciences)Framing (social sciences)A frame in social theory consists of a schema of interpretation — that is, a collection of anecdotes and stereotypes—that individuals rely on to understand and respond to events. In simpler terms, people build a series of mental filters through biological and cultural influences. They use these...
- Spin (public relations)Spin (public relations)In public relations, spin is a form of propaganda, achieved through providing an interpretation of an event or campaign to persuade public opinion in favor or against a certain organization or public figure...
- Intelligent design in politicsIntelligent design in politicsThe intelligent design movement has conducted a far-reaching organized campaign largely in the United States that promotes a neo-creationist religious agenda calling for broad social, academic and political changes centering around intelligent design....
- Intelligent design movementIntelligent design movementThe intelligent design movement is a neo-creationist religious campaign for broad social, academic and political change to promote and support the idea of "intelligent design," which asserts that "certain features of the universe and of living things are...
External links
- Discovery Institute - Center for Science and Culture
- Key Resources for Parents and School Board Members Discovery Institute
- Stand Up For Science A Discovery Institute campaign to influence the Kansas evolution hearingsKansas evolution hearingsThe Kansas evolution hearings were a series of hearings held in Topeka, Kansas, United States May 5 to May 12, 2005 by the Kansas State Board of Education and its State Board Science Hearing Committee to change how evolution and the origin of life would be taught in the state's public high school...
- Law Review Articles about "Teaching Darwin, Design and the Origins Controversy" by former Discover Institute Fellow Francis Beckwith