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Creationism's Trojan Horse
« on: 2004-06-03 12:06:19 » |
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see also CoV bbs thread here - which links this article from Skeptic magazine - http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic06-01-04.html#2
The Wedge at Work: How Intelligent Design Creationism Is Wedging Its Way into the Cultural and Academic Mainstream
Barbara Forrest, Ph.D.
SOURCE: Infidels.org
Introduction
If we understand our own times, we will know that we should affirm the reality of God by challenging the domination of materialism and naturalism in the world of the mind. With the assistance of many friends I have developed a strategy for doing this,...We call our strategy the "wedge." --Phillip E. Johnson [1]
With the simplest of metaphors, Phillip Johnson describes the "wedge" strategy adopted in order to advance "intelligent design" theory, the most recent--and most dangerous--manifestation of creationism. Yet the simplicity of the metaphor is deceptive. In reality, the wedge strategy is being aggressively and systematically executed by the Discovery Institute's (DI) Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture (CRSC) through an extensive, constant, and sometimes dizzying range of activities which, as Johnson says, are intended ultimately to "affirm the reality of God." This religious goal, advanced chiefly by means of CRSC's anti-evolution agenda--and by politics--is the heart of the wedge movement.
This essay does not analyze the philosophical and scientific arguments (such as they are) of DI's intelligent design proponents. Others are doing that quite capably; rather, the present study analyzes the nature of the wedge strategy, providing a framework from which to move at any point into the philosophical and scientific analyses.
This study of the CRSC's wedge strategy consists of three parts:
Part I. A chronological history of the wedge strategy and the authentication of the "Wedge Document."
The development of the wedge movement and its strategy can be chronicled by consulting the Discovery Institute's own publications, as well as through articles in friendly sources. The Wedge's chronological development includes the production of a strategy outline known informally outside DI as "the Wedge Document," which is authenticated here. An important point, however, is that DI's activities would speak for themselves even if the document were not genuine. These activities betray an aggressive, systematic agenda for promoting not only intelligent design creationism, but the religious worldview that undergirds it.
Part II. A survey of wedge activities.
A survey of the activities which DI's Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture has undertaken to advance the wedge strategy shows that the systematic program has been very successfully carried out except for its most important component: the production of scientific data to support intelligent design. Yet despite the scientific failure of the wedge, the CRSC is tireless in advancing the rest of its strategy--(1) establishing a beachhead in higher education, (2) influencing public opinion by a steady stream of popular publications, and, most insidiously, (3) insinuating "intelligent design theory" into the public education curriculum.
Part III. An analysis of the nature of the wedge strategy and its advance into the mainstream.
The Wedge consists of a tightly knit core of people at DI's Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture who have worked together for almost a decade to advance the wedge strategy; the same people are always active in the CRSC's major events. The movement is fueled by a religious vision which, although it varies among the members in its particulars, is predicated on the shared conviction that America is in need of "renewal" which can be accomplished only by instituting religion as its cultural foundation.
For full text please see – HERE
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Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design by Barbara Carroll Forrest, Paul R. Gross.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195157427/humannaturecom/
Description
Forrest and Gross expose the scientific failure, the religious essence, and the political ambitions of "intelligent design" creationism. They examine the movement's "Wedge Strategy," which has advanced and is succeeding through public relations rather than through scientific research. Analyzing the content and character of "intelligent design theory," they highlight its threat to public education and to the separation of church and state.
About the Author(s)
Barbara Forrest, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Department of History and Government, Southeastern Louisiana University, and Paul R. Gross, University Professor of Life Sciences, University of Virginia (Emeritus)
Introduction
1. How the Wedge Began
2. The Wedge Document: A Design for Design
3. Searching for Science
4. Paleontology Lite and Copernican Discoveries
5. A Conspiracy Hunter and a Newton
6. Everything Except Science I
7. Everything Except Science II
8. Wedging Into Power Politics
9. Religion First - and Last
Endorsements
"Intelligent Design 'theory' (ID) has been well described as Creationism in a cheap Tuxedo. One of its luminaries, we are told, has 'angrily denied that ID is stealth creationism.' He's right. There's no stealth about it. It is creationism. Unfortunately, ID 'theorists' have a streetwise political professionalism to outweigh the amateurishness of their science, and we therefore cannot ignore them. Barbara Forrestand Paul Gross meticulously document their pretensions, destroy their arguments, and expose their true motivation. An excellent and sadly necessary book."
--- Professor Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene and A Devil's Chaplain
"This is the definitive work on modern creationism, an exhaustively detailed and compelling exposure of the attempt--by the well-known process in nature called by biologists 'aggressive mimicry'--to corrupt science in the service of sectarian religion. In the process, the book explores the larger and seemingly endless struggle between religion-based tribal values and science-based universal values."
--- Edward O. Wilson, University Research Professor, Emeritus, Harvard University
"Forrest and Gross have combined scrupulous standards of documentation with a fluid and lively narrative to generate an engrossing and chilling account of how a few peoplehave been able to wreak havoc with science education. A must-read for anyone interested in how America can be hijacked."
--- Ursula Goodenough, Professor of Biology, Washington University and author of The Sacred Depths of Nature
"A scholarly and penetrating analysis of why intelligent design is simply a form of creaionisnd why both are in turn a form of religious ideology, with nothing to do with serious science. A must read for educators, scientists, and policy makers. A wake up call for everybody else."
--- Massimo Pigliucci, Professor, University of Tennessee, author of Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science
"With all the rigor and detail of Ronald Numbers's The Creationists but with the passionand verve of Richard Dawkins or Stephen Jay Gould, Creationism's Trojan Horse incisively analyzes the latest evolutionary step of creationism: 'intelligent design.' Forrest and Gross's history and critique of intelligent design creationism is both authoritative and fascinating, painstakingly researched and compellingly argued. Creationism's Trojan Horse will be the standard work on intelligent design creationism for years to come."
--- Dr. Eugenie C. Scott, Executive Director, National Center for Science Education
"Creationism's Trojan Horse documents the disturbing movement to sneak religious dogma back into science education, driven by the vague fear that Americans can't handle the truth. Educators, scientists, and politicians would do well to understand this movement and its tactics, and this book is a superb and timely analysis."
--- Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor, Harvard University, and author of How the Mind Works.
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Re:Creationism's Trojan Horse
« Reply #1 on: 2005-04-19 18:03:10 » |
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This team of plotters at the DI are memetic engineers, and successful ones. I went to one of these conferences in the attempt to seduce one of the girls in attendance. Their presentation was a beautiful movie which detailed all the "coincidences" that "were too unlikely to have happened without design" in an astronomical sense. Besides it being astronomy and not biology it was Paley down to the last detail. The conference was full, and was held at University of New Mexico a state school. I'm glad that scientists need not plot their memes to convince, for nature does it for us! Simply describe and theorize and you've got memes worth replicating without trying to convince and wedge. The periodic table is my current favorite. Mendeleev hardly wanted to make a meme and couldn't have dreamed of its successes.
The christians hold all the cards, folks. How are we going to get a foothold in minds that are afraid and want eternal promises and delights, lazy and won't analyze, and have had opposing views drilled into them since childhood. That's the question i think faces us in light of this pathetic gesture towards Science.
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