Discovery Institute

Short description: U.S. non-profit public policy think tank

Discovery Institute

Abbreviation| DI
Founded| 1991 (35 years ago) (1991)
Founders| Bruce Chapman and George Gilder
Type| Nonprofit

Tax ID no.

| 91-1521697
Legal status| 501(c)(3)
Purpose| science and philosophy think tank
Headquarters| 208 Columbia St., Seattle, Washington (state) 98104-1508
Location|

* Seattle, Washington (state), United States
* Dallas, Texas, United States

President

| Steven J. Buri[lower-alpha 1]

Chairman

| Bruce Kerry Chapman[lower-alpha 2]

Parent organization

| Hudson Institute

Revenue (2019)

| $7,637,803[1]
Expenses (2019)| $6,865,358[1]
Website| {{{1}}}
Part of a series on

Intelligent design

Watchmaker analogy

Concepts

* Irreducible complexity
* Specified complexity
* Fine-tuned universe
* Intelligent designer
* Theistic science
* Neo-creationism

Movement

* Timeline
* Wedge strategy
* Politics
* Kitzmiller v. Dover

Campaigns

* Discovery Institute campaigns
* "Teach the Controversy"

Organisations

* Discovery Institute
* Center for Science and Culture
* Centre for Intelligent Design
* International Society for Complexity,
Information, and Design (ISCID)

* Intelligent Design and
Evolution Awareness Center

* Physicians and Surgeons for
Scientific Integrity

* Truth in Science

Reactions

* Jewish
* Roman Catholic

* Scientific bodies that explicitly
reject Intelligent design

Creationism

*     * Book
* Category

* v
* t
* e

The Discovery Institute (DI) is a politically conservative[2][3][4] think tank that advocates the pseudoscientific concept[5][6][7] of intelligent design (ID). It was founded in 1991[8] in Seattle as a non-profit offshoot of the Hudson Institute.

Its "Teach the Controversy" campaign aims to permit the teaching of anti-evolution, intelligent-design beliefs in United States public high school science courses in place of accepted scientific theories, positing that a scientific controversy exists over these subjects when in fact there is none.[9][10][11][12][excessive citations]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 1.1 Discovery Institute Press
* 1.2 Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity
* 1.3 Teach the Controversy
* 1.4 Wedge strategy
* 1.5 Center for Science and Culture
* 1.6 Other issues
* 1.6.1 Homelessness
* 1.6.2 2020 United States presidential election
* 1.7 Climate change
* 2 See also
* 3 Notes
* 4 References
* 5 Further reading
* 6 External links

## History

The institute was cofounded in 1991 by Bruce Chapman and George Gilder as a non-profit educational foundation and think tank.[8] It was started as a branch organization of the Hudson Institute, an Indianapolis-based conservative think tank. It is named after the Royal Navy ship HMS Discovery in which George Vancouver explored Puget Sound in 1792.[13] The organization was incorporated in 1991.

### Discovery Institute Press

Discovery Institute Press is the institute's publishing arm[14] and has published intelligent design books by its fellows including David Berlinski's Deniable Darwin & Other Essays (2010), Jonathan Wells' The Myth of Junk DNA (2011) and an edited volume titled Signature Of Controversy, which contains apologetics in defense of the institute's Center for Science and Culture director Stephen C. Meyer.

### Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity

The Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity (PSSI), formally registered as PSSI International Inc., is a United States 501(c)(3) nonprofit anti-evolution organization, based in Clearwater, Florida, promoting the pseudoscience of intelligent design associated with the Discovery Institute. While in the past, the organization sponsored events promoting intelligent design and fundamentalist Christianity, it is currently largely inactive.[15] The PSSI was established in early 2006 by Rich Akin.[16] Geoffrey Simmons, Discovery Institute fellow, is one of the directors of the PSSI.

The PSSI created a public list of medical professionals who dissent from Darwinism. This list is used by the Discovery Institute in its anti-evolution campaigns. The list is used in support of the Discovery Institute claims that intelligent design is scientifically valid while asserting that evolution lacks broad scientific support.[17]

The PSSI, which was active between 2006 and 2008, held a "Doctors Doubting Darwin" rally at the University of South Florida's Sun Dome in September 2006. Attendance was estimated at 3,500 to 4,000 people by a local reporter.[18] Apologetic organizations promoting the event had hoped to fill all 7,700 seats in the Sun Dome.[19][20] This meeting featured the Discovery Institute's Jonathan Wells and fellow Michael Behe, and received local radio coverage. This rally was opposed by the Florida Citizens for Science.[21][22]

### Teach the Controversy

Main article: Unsolved:Teach the Controversy

Teach the Controversy is a campaign conducted by the Discovery Institute to promote the pseudoscientific principle of intelligent design, a variant of traditional creationism, while attempting to discredit the teaching of evolution in United States public high school science courses.[23][24][25]

The scientific community and science education organizations have replied that there is no scientific controversy regarding the validity of evolution and that the controversy is a religious and political one.[26][27][28] A federal court, along with the majority of scientific organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, say the institute has manufactured the controversy they want to teach by promoting a "false perception" that evolution is "a theory in crisis" by falsely claiming it is the subject of wide controversy and debate within the scientific community.[26][27][29][30] In the December 2005 ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, Judge John E. Jones III concluded that intelligent design is not science and "cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents".[31]

### Wedge strategy

Main article: Unsolved:Wedge strategy

The Wedge Strategy is a political and social action plan authored by the institute. The strategy was put forth in a Discovery Institute manifesto known as the "Wedge Document". Its goal is to change American culture by shaping public policy to reflect politically conservative fundamentalist evangelical Protestant values. The wedge metaphor is attributed to Phillip E. Johnson and depicts a metal wedge splitting a log. In Why Evolution Works (and Creationism Fails) the authors wrote "Although its religious orientation is explicit, the long-term plan outlined in the Wedge Document also displays the Discovery Institute's political agenda very clearly. In ten years, the Wedge strategy was to be extended to ethics, politics, theology; the humanities, and the arts. The ultimate goal of the Discovery Institute is to "overthrow" materialism and "renew" American culture to reflect right-wing Christian values."[32]

### Center for Science and Culture

Main article: Organization:Center for Science and Culture

The Center for Science and Culture (CSC), formerly known as the Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture (CRSC), is part of the Discovery Institute, beside other connected sites, such as Mind Matters,[33] operated by the non-profit Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence[34] at Discovery Institute. It publishes the blog Evolution News & Science Today (formerly Evolution News & Views and often shortened to Evolution News (EN)), that promotes "a rigorously God-centered view of creation, including a new 'science' based solidly on theism."[35]

### Other issues

#### Homelessness

Christopher Rufo, an activist who later became famous for opposing the teaching of critical race theory, wrote frequently on the subject of homelessness while he worked for the Discovery Institute.[36] In his 2018 Discovery Institute-funded policy paper "Seattle Under Siege: How Seattle's Homelessness Policy Perpetuates the Crisis and How We Can Fix It," Rufo said that four groups—"socialist intellectuals", "compassion brigades", the "homeless-industrial complex", and the "addiction evangelists"—had successfully framed the debate on homelessness and diverted funding to their projects.[37][38] He described how the "compassion brigade" had called for social justice using terms such as "compassion, empathy, bias, inequality, root causes, systemic racism."[38] Rufo brought negative attention to All Home, which at the time was King County, Washington's homelessness agency, by sharing a video of an adult entertainer performing at a conference on homelessness. All Home's director was placed on administrative leave and resigned shortly thereafter.[39]

Caitlin Bassett of the Discovery Institute has contributed opinion articles that criticize governmental response to homelessness as wasteful and counterproductive to the goal of ending homelessness. The Discovery Institute opposes the Housing First approach, preferring to prioritize treating homeless people for mental illness or drug addiction.[40]

#### 2020 United States presidential election

Scott S. Powell, a senior fellow of the Institute, has promoted the false claim that the 2020 United States presidential election was stolen.[41]

### Climate change

The Discovery Institute website has posted articles denying the scientific consensus on climate change.[41]

## See also

* Creation and evolution in public education in the United States
* Hudson Institute
* Timeline of intelligent design

## Notes

1. ↑ Buri became president in December 2011
2. ↑ Chapman became chairman in 2011

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Charity Navigator Rating - Discovery Institute". Glen Rock, NJ: Charity Navigator. https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=9757.
2. ↑ Wilgoren, Jodi (August 21, 2005). "Politicized Scholars Put Evolution on the Defensive". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/national/21evolve.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5088&en=24bc7c9b16cac8a8&ex=1282276800&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss.
3. ↑ "Intelligent Design: Creationism's Trojan Horse - A Conversation With Barbara Forrest". Church & State (Washington, D.C.: Americans United for Separation of Church and State). February 2005. ISSN 2163-3746. https://www.au.org/church-state/february-2005-church-state/featured/intelligent-design-creationism’s-trojan-horse-a. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
4. ↑ Jones, Thomas (November 1, 2001). "Short Cuts". London Review of Books 23 (21): 22. ISSN 0260-9592. https://www.lrb.co.uk/v23/n21/thomas-jones/short-cuts. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
5. ↑ Boudry, Maarten; Blancke, Stefaan; Braeckman, Johan (December 2010). "Irreducible Incoherence and Intelligent Design: A Look into the Conceptual Toolbox of a Pseudoscience". The Quarterly Review of Biology (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press) 85 (4): 473–482. doi:10.1086/656904. PMID 21243965. https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/952482/file/6828579.pdf. Article available from Universiteit Gent
6. ↑ Pigliucci, Massimo (2010). "Science in the Courtroom: The Case against Intelligent Design". Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 160–186. ISBN 978-0-226-66786-7. OCLC 457149439. http://ncse.com/files/pub/evolution/Nonsenseonstilts.pdf.
7. ↑ Perakh, Mark; Young, Matt (2004). "13. Is Intelligent Design Science?". Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism. Rutgers University Press. pp. 195–196. ISBN 0-8135-3433-X. https://books.google.com/books?id=SVb7Q1gd3ZgC. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "What we do". https://www.discovery.org/about.
9. ↑ Forrest, Barbara (May 2007). "Understanding the Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals". Washington, D.C.: Center for Inquiry. https://centerforinquiry.org/uploads/attachments/intelligent-design.pdf.
10. ↑ "Small Group Wields Major Influence in Intelligent Design Debate". World News Tonight (New York: American Broadcasting Company). November 9, 2005. https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1297170&WNT=true.
11. ↑ Mooney, Chris (December 2002). "Survival of the Slickest". The American Prospect (Washington, D.C.) 13 (22). https://prospect.org/article/survival-slickest. Retrieved July 23, 2008.
12. ↑ Dembski, William A. (2001). "Teaching Intelligent Design: What Happened When?". Colorado Springs, CO. http://www.arn.org/docs/dembski/wd_teachingid0201.htm.
13. ↑ "Discovery Institute: A Brief History" (PDF). Seattle, WA: Discovery Institute. http://www.discovery.org/f/4441.
14. ↑ "Discovery Institute Press". Seattle, WA: Discovery Institute. http://www.discoveryinstitutepress.com/.
15. ↑ "Intelligent Design Presentation at USF Draws Crowds and Complaints From Darwinists - Evolution News & Views". Evolution News. http://www.evolutionnews.org/2006/10/over_3600_floridians_were_trea002673.html.
16. ↑ "Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity, Part One". https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/intelligentdesign/episodes/2009-06-10T16_05_38-07_00.
17. ↑ Understanding the Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals; A Position Paper from the Center for Inquiry, Office of Public Policy Barbara Forrest. May, 2007.
18. ↑ Evolution: A Theory in Crisis , Hank Tippins, Tippin the Scales, The Observer News, Tampa Bay, Florida, October 21, 2006.
19. ↑ Recent Events Archive: Apologetics Events in the U.S. and Beyond , apologetics.org.
20. ↑ September 23, 2006 - News , Texans for Better Science Education Newsletter, Sept 23, 2006.
21. ↑ Florida Citizens for Science official webpage
22. ↑ Doomed in the Dome , Red State Rabble blog, September 28, 2006.
23. ↑ Forrest, Barbara (May 2007). "Understanding the Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals. A Position Paper from the Center for Inquiry, Office of Public Policy". Center for Inquiry, Inc. (Washington, D.C.). https://centerforinquiry.org/uploads/attachments/intelligent-design.pdf. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
24. ↑ Small Group Wields Major Influence in Intelligent Design Debate ABC News, November 9, 2005
25. ↑ "ID's home base is the Center for Science and Culture at Seattle's conservative Discovery Institute. Meyer directs the center; former Reagan adviser Bruce Chapman heads the larger institute, with input from the Christian supply-sider and former American Spectator owner George Gilder (also a Discovery senior fellow). From this perch, the ID crowd has pushed a "teach the controversy" approach to evolution that closely influenced the Ohio State Board of Education's recently proposed science standards, which would require students to learn how scientists "continue to investigate and critically analyze" aspects of Darwin's theory." Chris Mooney. The American Prospect. December 2, 2002 Survival of the Slickest: How anti-evolutionists are mutating their message
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Annas, George J. (2006). "Intelligent Judging — Evolution in the Classroom and the Courtroom". New England Journal of Medicine 354 (21): 2277–2281. doi:10.1056/NEJMlim055660. PMID 16723620. https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/1287. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 "Some bills seek to discredit evolution by emphasizing so-called "flaws" in the theory of evolution or "disagreements" within the scientific community. Others insist that teachers have absolute freedom within their classrooms and cannot be disciplined for teaching non-scientific "alternatives" to evolution. A number of bills require that students be taught to "critically analyze" evolution or to understand "the controversy." But there is no significant controversy within the scientific community about the validity of the theory of evolution. The current controversy surrounding the teaching of evolution is not a scientific one." AAAS Statement on the Teaching of Evolution American Association for the Advancement of Science. February 16, 2006
28. ↑ "Such controversies as do exist concern the details of the mechanisms of evolution, not the validity of the over-arching theory of evolution, which is one of the best supported theories in all of science." Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences, Second Edition United States National Academy of Sciences
29. ↑ "ID's backers have sought to avoid the scientific scrutiny which we have now determined that it cannot withstand by advocating that the controversy, but not ID itself, should be taught in science class. This tactic is at best disingenuous, and at worst a canard." Ruling, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, page 89
30. ↑ Understanding the Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals. A Position Paper from the Center for Inquiry, Office of Public Policy Barbara Forrest. May, 2007.
31. ↑ Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, Conclusion (pages 136-138)
32. ↑ Young, Matt; Strode, Paul (15 May 2009) (in en). Why Evolution Works (and Creationism Fails). Rutgers University Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-8135-4864-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=AsJDTq2wTQEC. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
33. ↑ "Mind Matters". https://mindmatters.ai/about/.
34. ↑ "Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence". https://centerforintelligence.org/.
35. ↑ *Forrest, Barbara; Gross, Paul R. (2004). Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 19, 23. ISBN 0-19-515742-7. OCLC 50913078.
36. ↑ Jones, Sarah (July 11, 2021). "How to Manufacture a Moral Panic" (in en-us). Intelligencer. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/christopher-rufo-and-the-critical-race-theory-moral-panic.html.
37. ↑ Walker, Meghan (November 2, 2018). "City council candidate Christopher Rufo takes on homelessness in upcoming public event". My Ballard (Ballard, Seattle). https://www.myballard.com/2018/11/02/city-council-candidate-christopher-rufo-takes-on-homelessness-in-upcoming-public-event/.
38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Rufo, Christopher (October 16, 2018). "﻿The Politics of Ruinous Compassion: How Seattle's Homelessness Policy Perpetuates the Crisis And How We Can Fix It﻿". Discovery Institute. A Discovery Institute White Paper. https://www.discovery.org/a/20243/. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
39. ↑ Lin, Summer (December 27, 2019). "Dancer was hired to strip at Seattle homelessness conference. The video leaked online". The Sacramento Bee. https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/article238461743.html.
40. ↑ Bassett, Caitlin; Marbut, Robert (March 28, 2022). "Opinion: Generous donation gone to waste on bad homelessness policy". Puget Sound Business Journal (American City Business Journals). https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2022/03/28/bad-homelessness-policy-costs-seattle-donors.html.
41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 Braterman, Paul (2021-02-04). "Why creationism bears all the hallmarks of a conspiracy theory" (in en). http://theconversation.com/why-creationism-bears-all-the-hallmarks-of-a-conspiracy-theory-153831.

## Further reading

* Mooney, Chris (2005). The Republican War on Science. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-04675-1. OCLC 58605134.
* Pennock, Robert T, ed (2001). Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics: Philosophical, Theological, and Scientific Perspectives. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-66124-1. OCLC 46729201. https://archive.org/details/intelligentdesig00robe.
* Phy-Olsen, Allene (2010). Evolution, Creationism, and Intelligent Design. Historical Guides to Controversial Issues in America. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood. ISBN 978-0-313-37841-6. OCLC 656503130.

## External links

* "Discovery Institute Internal Revenue Service filings". https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/911521697.
* Discovery Institute on C-SPAN

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