Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns

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The Discovery Institute has conducted a series of related public relations campaigns which seek to promote intelligent design while attempting to discredit evolutionary biology, which the Institute terms "Darwinism".[1] The Discovery Institute promotes the pseudoscientific intelligent design movement and is represented by Creative Response Concepts, a public relations firm.[2]

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 the development of evolutionary theory was historically linked to ideologies such as Nazism and eugenics,[3][4][5] claims based on misrepresentation which have been ridiculed by topic experts.[6][7] These three claims are all publicized in the pro-ID movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed; the Anti-Defamation League said the film's attempt to blame science for the Nazi Holocaust was outrageous.[8] Other campaigns have included petitions, most notably A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism.[9]

The theory of evolution is accepted by overwhelming scientific consensus.[10][11] Intelligent design has been rejected, both by the vast majority of scientists and by court findings, such as Kitzmiller v. Dover, as being a religious view and not science.

  1. ^ Understanding the Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals. A Position Paper from the Center for Inquiry, Office of Public Policy Archived June 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Barbara Forrest. May, 2007.
  2. ^ Dean, Cornelia; Goodstein, Laurie (9 July 2005). "Leading Cardinal Redefines Church's View on Evolution". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  3. ^ "The Role of Darwinism in Nazi Racial Thought" (PDF). csustan.edu. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  4. ^ "From Darwin to Hitler". Richard Weikart. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  5. ^ "Senior Fellow Richard Weikart responds to Sander Gliboff". Discovery Institute. 10 October 2004. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  6. ^ Rennie, John; Mirsky, Steve (April 16, 2008). "Six Things in Expelled That Ben Stein Doesn't Want You to Know..." Scientific American. Stuttgart: Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. ISSN 0036-8733. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Allen 06 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "Anti-Evolution Film Misappropriates the Holocaust" (Press release). New York: Anti-Defamation League. April 29, 2008. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  9. ^ "Dissent From Darwinism "Goes Global" as Over 600 Scientists Around the World Express Their Doubts About Darwinian Evolution". evolution news. 21 June 2006. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  10. ^ Hofmann, James R.; Weber, Bruce H. (November 2003). "The Fact of Evolution: Implications for Science Education". Science & Education. 12 (8): 729–760. Bibcode:2003Sc&Ed..12..729H. doi:10.1023/B:SCED.0000004556.80802.3a. S2CID 31403131.[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ Kroll, Andy (September 15, 2017). "New Mexico Doesn't Want Your Kids to Know How Old the Earth Is". Mother Jones.