Scans of the “Wedge Strategy” documents of the Intelligent Design Ministry, as exposed by Dr. Barbara Forrest in the landmark “Kitzmiller vs Dover” case

Lots of Science vs Religion to blog about today, and some very cool photos to share.

Today I am providing links to stuff about Dr. Barbara Forrest, and also links to internet sources to see scans of the actual Wedge Strategy documents.

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Dr. Barbara Forrest was one of the chief anti-creationist witnesses at the Kitzmiller vs. Dover trial.

The Kitzmiller v. Dover case was the case in 2005 where the creationists lost and were humiliated when the judge declared that school board members had lied in court about the relilgious purpose behind Intelligent Design education.

Dr. Forrest wrote a book about the “Wedge Strategy” of the Intelligent Design ministry. The Wedge Strategy calls for infiltrating schools with Creationism masked as Intelligent Design. Dr. Forrest used the term “Wedge Strategy” because of a booklet called “The Wedge” by the people who brought us the Discovery institute.

In his continuing series called “Know your Creationists”, DailyKos science diarist DarkSyde interviews Dr. Barbara Forrest.

Here are a couple of the many interesting statements from Dr. Forrest in the interview:

No. A scientific theory is a well-established scientific explanation of natural phenomena using abundant data acquired through rigorous scientific testing and research. ID proponents have produced absolutely nothing except a spate of books aimed at the popular audience.

… ID is nothing more than a slightly repackaged extension of pre-Edwards creationism, advanced through the Discovery Institute’s political connections, lucrative donor funding, Religious Right allies, and a slick public relations program. The Discovery Institute recently hired Creative Response Concepts, the same PR firm that represented Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

“The Wedge”, AKA “The Wedge Documents”, and how to see scans of the actual booklet

The Wedge outlines a twenty year strategy to grow the influence of creationism (renamed as Intelligent Design). One of the Goals in the Wedge Strategy is to “See design theory permeate our religious, cultural, moral and political life”. And so, Political and Religious goals are expressly part of the Intelligent Design Wedge Strategy.

See scans of the infamous “Wedge Strategy” documents by the Seattle Weekly.

See this Pharyngula blog article for a link to a PDF containing all the Wedge Document Scans.

Conclusion

“The Wedge Documents” seem to constitute the smoking gun against the Intelligent Design ministry. I call it the “Intelligent Design Ministry” today, rather than “Intelligent Design Movement”, because Ministry more accurately describes what it truly is.

It’s a ministry that wants to overhaul scientific theory completely, injecting Christianity into our most basic science, and changing the political landscape to place a religious filter between science and public policy, somewhat like the way the Soviets would place a Communist Doctrine filter on everything.