The Wedge strategy is a political action treatise that was included in fundraising materials for the Discovery Institute, an organization that, as part of its many activities, hopes to promote Intelligent Design as an alternative to scientific naturalism, materialism and Darwinism (macroevolution through purely materialistic mechanisms). It was made public by opponents of the organization in 1997.[1][2][3]
The strategy outlines a future public relations campaign meant to sway the opinion of the public, popular media, funding agencies, and the scientific community in order that they should effect an "overthrow of materialism and its cultural legacies". The Wedge document discusses at length the means of achieving these goals, which are scientific research, writing, publishing, conferences, seminars, speaking appearances, debates, media appearances and other public square activities.[4]
There are three "wedge projects" referred in the strategy as three phases: Phase I: Scientific Research, Writing & Publicity, Phase II: Publicity & Opinion-making, and Phase III: Cultural Confrontation & Renewal. Each of these phases is designed to reach a governing goal of the Wedge Strategy[5]:
- To defeat scientific materialism and its destructive moral, cultural and political legacies.
- To replace materialistic explanations with the theistic understanding that nature and human beings are created by God.
The Wedge Strategy was designed with both five-year and twenty-year goals in mind in order to achieve the conversion of the mainstream. One notable component of the work was its desire to address perceived "social consequences" and to promote a social conservative agenda on a wide range of issues including abortion, euthanasia, sexuality, and other social reform movements. It criticized "materialist reformers [who] advocated coercive government programs" which it referred to as "a virulent strain of utopianism".
Beyond promotion of the Phase I goals of proposing Intelligent-Design-related research, publications, and attempted integration into academia, the Wedge Strategy places an emphasis on Phases II and III advocacy aimed at increasing popular support of the Discovery Institute's ideas. Support for the creation of popular-level books, newspaper and magazine articles, op-ed pieces, video productions, and apologetics seminars is hoped to embolden believers and sway the broader culture towards providing legitimacy of Intelligent Design.
In twenty years, it is hoped by the group that they will have achieved their goal of making intelligent design "the dominant perspective in science" as well as to branch out to "ethics, politics, theology, and philosophy in the humanities, and to see its innuence in the fine arts". Ultimately, the goal of the Wedge Strategy is to see intelligent design "permeate religious, cultural, moral and political life."
Defending the Wedge Strategy
The Wedge Strategy recieved attention from groups opposed to the Intelligent Design movements as the document appears to advocate a particularly strident strategy for promoting a wide-range of politically conservative ideas that seemed unrelated to the question of science. In response, the Discovery Institute published a document entitled The "Wedge Document": "So What?" to defuse many of the claims, stating "Not since the 1960's, when the Council on Foreign Relations was called a communist front by the John Birch Society, has a think tank inspired such obsessive interest in its unreasonable foes."[6] It states that the original document was only a fundraising proposal that outlined appropriate and Constitutionally protected means, and criticizes its opponents for what it believes are baseless accusations. The Wedge strategy is claimed to be an opposition to the dominant a priori philosophy and a support of the interpretive freedom of scientists. The goal of the strategy is described as "influencing science and culture with our ideas through research, reasoned argument and open debate".
The defenders of the Discovery Institute point to examples of activities that directly contradict many of the allegations made with respect to the Wedge strategy, including sponsoring a seminar for college students that advocated religious liberty and the separation of church and state.
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Last updated: 05-30-2005 04:44:05
