The intelligent design movement is a neo-creationist religious campaign for broad social, academic and political change to promote and support the pseudoscientific[1] idea of intelligent design (ID), which asserts 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."[2][3][4] Its chief activities are a campaign to promote public awareness of this concept, the lobbying of policymakers to include its teaching in high schoolscience classes, and legal action, either to defend such teaching or to remove barriers otherwise preventing it.[5][6] The movement arose out of the creation science movement in the United States,[7] and is driven by a small group of proponents.[8][9] The Encyclopædia Britannica explains that ID cannot be empirically tested and that it fails to solve the problem of evil; thus, it is neither sound science nor sound theology.[10]
^Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, 04 cv 2688 (December 20, 2005). Context, pp. 18–31. [p. 18] "An Objective Observer Would Know that ID and Teaching About 'Gaps' and 'Problems' in Evolutionary Theory are Creationist, Religious Strategies that Evolved from Earlier Forms of Creationism" [p. 24] "The concept of intelligent design (hereinafter 'ID'), in its current form, came into existence after the Edwards case was decided in 1987. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the religious nature of ID would be readily apparent to an objective observer, adult or child." [p. 31] "...we find that ID's religious nature would be further evident to our objective observer because it directly involves a supernatural designer. ... A 'hypothetical reasonable observer,' adult or child, who is 'aware of the history and context of the community and forum' is also presumed to know that ID is a form of creationism.... The evidence at trial demonstrates that ID is nothing less than the progeny of creationism."
^"Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District Trial transcript: Day 6 (October 5), PM Session, Part 1". TalkOrigins Archive. Houston, TX: The TalkOrigins Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 2007-07-19. Q. Has the Discovery Institute been a leader in the intelligent design movement? A. Yes, the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. Q. And are almost all of the individuals who are involved with the intelligent design movement associated with the Discovery Institute? A. All of the leaders are, yes. — Barbara Forrest, 2005, testifying in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial.
Wilgoren, Jodi (August 21, 2005). "Politicized Scholars Put Evolution on the Defensive". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-05-29. ...the institute's Center for Science and Culture has emerged in recent months as the ideological and strategic backbone behind the eruption of skirmishes over science in school districts and state capitals across the country.