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Discovery Institute

ORGANIZATION

"Making a positive vision of the future practical."

Founded by Reagan-era bureaucrat Bruce Chapman and funded by conservatives Howard Ahmanson, Jr., Philip Anschutz, and Richard Scaife, the Discovery Institute is an umbrella organization dedicated to restructuring American government without any separation between church and state.

The Discovery Institute funds the Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture (which due to controversy has dropped the words "the Renewal of" from its name), publishers of the "Wedge document", which outlines their political motivation to abolish evolution in favor of "intelligent design":

The social consequences of materialism have been devastating. As symptoms, those consequences are certainly worth treating. However, we are convinced that in order to defeat materialism, we must cut it off at its source. That source is scientific materialism. This is precisely our strategy. If we view the predominant materialistic science as a giant tree, our strategy is intended to function as a "wedge" that, while relatively small, can split the trunk when applied at its weakest points. The very beginning of this strategy, the "thin edge of the wedge," was Phillip Johnson's critique of Darwinism begun in 1991 in Darwinism on Trial, and continued in Reason in the Balance and Defeatng Darwinism by Opening Minds. Michael Behe's highly successful Darwin's Black Box followed Johnson's work. We are building on this momentum, broadening the wedge with a positive scientific alternative to materialistic scientific theories, which has come to be called the theory of intelligent design (ID). Design theory promises to reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist worldview, and to replace it with a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions.

Official Website:
http://www.discovery.org/

Location:
Seattle, WA

NameOccupationBirthDeathKnown for
Howard Ahmanson, Jr.
Philanthropist
3-Feb-1950   Reclusive fundamentalist-Christian philanthropist
Tom A. Alberg
Business
c. 1940   Madrona Venture Group
Philip Anschutz
Business
28-Dec-1939   Qwest billionaire
Michael Behe
Biologist
18-Jan-1952   Darwin's Black Box
John Angus Campbell
Activist
10-Mar-1942   Discovery Institute
Bruce Chapman
Government
1-Dec-1940   Founder of the Discovery Institute
William Dembski
Religion
18-Jul-1960   Intelligent Design proponent
George Gilder
Pundit
29-Nov-1939   Technological futurist pundit
Slade Gorton
Politician
8-Jan-1928   US Senator from Washington, 1981-2001
Robert J. Herbold
Business
24-Jul-1942   COO of Microsoft, 1994-2001
Phillip Johnson
Author
1940   Intelligent Design theorist
Scott McCallum
Politician
2-May-1950   Governor of Wisconsin, 2001-03
Ed Meese
Government
2-Dec-1931   US Attorney General, 1985-88
John Miller
Politician
23-May-1938   Congressman from Washington, 1985-93
Paul Nelson
Religion
1952   Leading Intelligent Design advocate
Gary North
Religion
1942   Reconstructionist Y2K Doomsayer
Richard W. Rahn
Economist
c. 1941   The End of Money
Jill S. Ruckelshaus
Business
1937   Wife of William Ruckelshaus
Richard Scaife
Activist
3-Jul-1932 4-Jul-2014 The Republican George Soros
Mike Vaska
Activist
1960   Discovery Institute
George Weigel
Activist
1951   Ethics and Public Policy Center
Jonathan Wells
Religion
c. 1956   Moonie for Intelligent Design
John Wohlstetter
Activist
c. 1947   Discovery Institute


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