Idiot America has something called "Crackpot Central" also known as the "Christian Creationist Discovery Institute". These stupid fucking assholes are a big part of the Christian war against teaching evolution. This is where millions of American retards get all their anti-science bullshit to defend their childish magical creationism fantasy.

Discovery Institute

The divine comedy Creationism

Running gags

Biblical literalism Young/Old Earth Intelligent design Creation scientists

Jokes aside

Evidence against a recent creation Geomagnetism Starlight problem Y-chromosomal Adam

Blooper reel

Acceptance of evolution in Christian institutions of higher education Moab Man Not Circular Reasoning The Search for a Search - Measuring the Information Cost of Higher Level Search/Critique of the Draft v - t - e

This page contains too many unsourced statements and needs to be improved. Discovery Institute could use some help. Please research the article's assertions. Whatever is credible should be sourced, and what is not should be removed.

The Discovery Institute (DI, not in any way associated with the Discovery Channel) is a non-profit religious "think"-tank notoriousfamous for its attempts to get intelligent-design creationism taught in American schools. It has set out many of its goals in the Wedge Document (1999). Ironically, DI has its headquarters in liberal Seattle, Washington.

The Discovery Institute is behind the growing number of "Academic Freedom Acts" being introduced in various state legislatures across the United States with varying degrees of success. These "academic freedom" statutes represent a more sophisticated approach to sneaking creationism into public schools than those advanced by Discovery Institute fellow Wendell Bird in the 1980s (prior to the founding of the Discovery Institute in 1990) by omitting any references to creationism whatsoever. Instead, the Discovery Institute proposed language for a new breed of "Academic Freedom Acts" in 2007.^[1] This proposed model "academic freedom" statute made its way into a number of bills in various states, such as that in Louisiana (passed in the Senate, died in the House), which would permit teachers "to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories pertinent to the course being taught". As such, the Discovery Institute significantly broadened its program of attempting to permit schools to "Teach the Controversy", going well beyond the Wedge Strategy (solely directed to intelligent-design creationism) to other politicized fields of science to which right-wingers object, such as climate change.

The Discovery Institute attempts to inject intelligent design creationism into secondary education through the publication of various creationist textbooks such as Of Pandas and People (1989, the subject of the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial of 2005). Pandas, written in part by Discovery Institute fellows William Dembski and Jonathan Wells, was re-titled The Design of Life: Discovering Signs of Intelligence in Biological Systems in 2007 - presumably in an attempt to duck the shame attendant on the original name following the Kitzmiller case. It remains in print at least as of 2009. The Discovery Institute published Explore Evolution: The Arguments For and Against Neo-Darwinism in 2007. The DI toutsrepresents the book as "the first biology textbook to present the scientific evidence both for and against key aspects of Darwinian evolution".^[2]

Contents

 [hide] 

• 1In their own words
• 2Global warming denial
• 3Senior Fellows at the Discovery Institute
• 4See also
• 5External links
• 6References

In their own words[edit]

The Discovery Institutes's original banner. Yes, the kerning and compression really were that bad.

The Discovery Institute describes itself as follows^[3]:

“”The point of view Discovery brings to its work includes a belief in God-given reason and the permanency of human nature; the principles of representative democracy and public service expounded by the American Founders; free market economics domestically and internationally; the social requirement to balance personal liberty with responsibility; the spirit of voluntarism crucial to civil society; the continuing validity of American international leadership; and the potential of science and technology to promote an improved future for individuals, families and communities.

However the vast majority of the material on their homepage seems to be associated with intelligent design and evolution. Furthermore, in their defense of the Wedge Document they are happy to support the statements:

“”Discovery Institute's Center ... seeks nothing less than the overthrow of materialism and its cultural legacies.

“”Discovery Institute's Center ... wants to reverse the stifling dominance of the materialistic worldview, and to replace it with a science consistent with Christian and theistic convictions.

Global warming denial[edit]

In line with the extreme wingnuttery that usually accompanies creationism, the Discovery Institute demonstrated Gore's Law by endorsing Global warming denialism.^[4]

Senior Fellows at the Discovery Institute[edit]

• Bruce Chapman: President of the Discovery Institute and Chairman of the Board^[5].
• Michael Behe
• David Berlinski
• Paul Chien
• William Dembski
• David DeWolf
• Michael Egnor (writes for their newsletter/blog)
• Guillermo Gonzalez
• Michael Newton Keas
• Michael Medved
• Jay W Richards
• Wesley J. Smith
• Richard Weikart
• Jonathan Wells
• Benjamin Wiker
• Jonathan Witt

See also[edit]

• Academic Freedom Day
• A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism
• Biologic Institute
• Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
• Geoffrey Simmons
• Model legislation
• Model academic freedom statute on evolution
• Uncommon Descent