Editing Discovery Institute (section)

==History==
The institute was cofounded in 1991 by [[Bruce Chapman]] and [[George Gilder]] as a non-profit educational foundation and think tank.<ref name=di_about />
It was started as a branch organization of the [[Hudson Institute]], an Indianapolis-based [[conservatism in the United States|conservative]] think tank. It is named after the [[Royal Navy]] ship [[HMS Discovery (1789)|HMS ''Discovery'']] in which [[George Vancouver]] explored [[Puget Sound]] in 1792.<ref name="abriefhistory">{{cite web |url=http://www.discovery.org/f/4441 |title=Discovery Institute: A Brief History |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=Center for Science and Culture |publisher=Discovery Institute |location=Seattle, WA |format=PDF |access-date=May 9, 2014 |archive-date=April 24, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424045505/http://www.discovery.org/f/4441 |url-status=live }}</ref> The organization was incorporated in 1991.

===Discovery Institute Press===
Discovery Institute Press is the institute's publishing arm<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.discoveryinstitutepress.com/ |title=Discovery Institute Press |website=Discovery Institute Press |publisher=Discovery Institute |location=Seattle, WA |access-date=May 5, 2014 |archive-date=October 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031014622/https://discoveryinstitutepress.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 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 [[Objections to evolution|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.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.evolutionnews.org/2006/10/over_3600_floridians_were_trea002673.html|access-date=15 February 2012|title=Intelligent Design Presentation at USF Draws Crowds and Complaints From Darwinists - Evolution News & Views|work=[[Evolution News]]|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090923/http://www.evolutionnews.org/2006/10/over_3600_floridians_were_trea002673.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The PSSI was established in early 2006 by Rich Akin.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/intelligentdesign/episodes/2009-06-10T16_05_38-07_00|title=Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity, Part One|website=Podomatic|access-date=December 3, 2023|archive-date=April 9, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409114845/https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/intelligentdesign/episodes/2009-06-10T16_05_38-07_00|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Geoffrey Simmons]], Discovery Institute fellow, is one of the directors of the PSSI.

The PSSI created a public list of medical professionals who [[Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns#Physicians and Surgeons who Dissent from Darwinism|dissent from Darwinism]]. This list is used by the Discovery Institute in its [[Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns|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.<ref>[https://centerforinquiry.org/uploads/attachments/intelligent-design.pdf ''Understanding the Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals''; A Position Paper from the Center for Inquiry, Office of Public Policy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214134028/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/uploads/attachments/intelligent-design.pdf |date=February 14, 2019 }} [[Barbara Forrest]]. May, 2007.</ref>

The PSSI, which was active between 2006 and 2008, held a "Doctors Doubting Darwin" rally at the [[University of South Florida]]'s [[USF Sun Dome|Sun Dome]] in September 2006. Attendance was estimated at 3,500 to 4,000 people by a local reporter.<ref name=Tippins>[http://www.observernews.net/artman/publish/article_001814.shtml '' Evolution: A Theory in Crisis''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207002525/http://www.observernews.net/artman/publish/article_001814.shtml |date=February 7, 2012 }}, Hank Tippins, ''Tippin the Scales'', ''The Observer News'', [[Tampa Bay]], [[Florida]], October 21, 2006.</ref> Apologetic organizations promoting the event had hoped to fill all 7,700 seats in the Sun Dome.<ref>[http://www.apologetics.org/recent-events.html ''Recent Events Archive: Apologetics Events in the U.S. and Beyond''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927154635/http://www.apologetics.org/recent-events.html |date=September 27, 2007 }}, apologetics.org.</ref><ref>[http://www.strengthsandweaknesses.org/NewsletterArchive/2006.09.TBSENews.htm ''September 23, 2006 - News''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930092432/http://www.strengthsandweaknesses.org/NewsletterArchive/2006.09.TBSENews.htm |date=September 30, 2007 }}, Texans for Better Science Education Newsletter, Sept 23, 2006.</ref> This meeting featured the Discovery Institute's [[Jonathan Wells (intelligent design advocate)|Jonathan Wells]] and fellow [[Michael Behe]], and received local radio coverage. This rally was opposed by the Florida Citizens for Science.<ref>[http://www.flascience.org/ Florida Citizens for Science] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120190324/https://www.flascience.org/ |date=November 20, 2023 }} official webpage</ref><ref>[http://redstaterabble.blogspot.com/2006/09/doomed-in-dome.html ''Doomed in the Dome''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231123010609/https://redstaterabble.blogspot.com/2006/09/doomed-in-dome.html |date=November 23, 2023 }}, Red State Rabble blog, September 28, 2006.</ref>

===Teach the Controversy===
{{Main|Teach the Controversy}}
[[Teach the Controversy]] is a campaign conducted by the Discovery Institute to promote the [[pseudoscience|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.<ref name=ForrestMayPaper>{{Cite journal
|url=https://centerforinquiry.org/uploads/attachments/intelligent-design.pdf 
|title=Understanding the Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals. A Position Paper from the Center for Inquiry, Office of Public Policy 
|first1=Barbara 
|last1=Forrest 
|author-link=Barbara Forrest 
|date=May 2007 
|journal=Center for Inquiry, Inc. 
|place=Washington, D.C. 
|access-date=2007-08-06 
|url-status=dead 
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519124655/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/uploads/attachments/intelligent-design.pdf 
|archive-date=2011-05-19 
}}</ref><ref>[https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1297170&WNT=true Small Group Wields Major Influence in Intelligent Design Debate] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521051447/http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1297170&WNT=true |date=May 21, 2011 }} ABC News, November 9, 2005</ref><ref>"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 [http://www.prospect.org/print/V13/22/mooney-c.html Survival of the Slickest: How anti-evolutionists are mutating their message] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050405230851/http://www.prospect.org/print/V13/22/mooney-c.html |date=2005-04-05}}</ref>

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.<ref name="nejm"/><ref name="AAAS"/><ref name="nap">"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." [https://www.nap.edu/read/6024/chapter/1 Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences, Second Edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150304062304/http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309064066 |date=March 4, 2015 }} [[United States National Academy of Sciences]]</ref> 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.<ref name="nejm">{{Cite journal|doi = 10.1056/NEJMlim055660|pmid = 16723620|title = Intelligent Judging — Evolution in the Classroom and the Courtroom|journal = New England Journal of Medicine|volume = 354|issue = 21|pages = 2277–2281|year = 2006|last1 = Annas|first1 = George J.|url = https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/1287|access-date = December 3, 2023|archive-date = April 9, 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230409114847/https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/1287/|url-status = live}}</ref><ref name=AAAS>"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." [http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/pdf/0219boardstatement.pdf AAAS Statement on the Teaching of Evolution] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060221125539/http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/pdf/0219boardstatement.pdf |date=2006-02-21}} American Association for the Advancement of Science. February 16, 2006</ref><ref name="kitzmiller_pg89">"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." [[Wikisource:Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District/4:Whether ID Is Science#Page 89 of 139|Ruling, ''Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District'', page 89]]</ref><ref>[http://www.centerforinquiry.net/uploads/attachments/Forrest_Paper.pdf Understanding the Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals. A Position Paper from the Center for Inquiry, Office of Public Policy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630002824/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/uploads/attachments/Forrest_Paper.pdf |date=2007-06-30}} [[Barbara Forrest]]. May, 2007.</ref> 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".<ref>[[Wikisource:Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District/6:Curriculum, Conclusion#H.|''Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District'', Conclusion]] (pages 136-138)</ref>

=== Wedge strategy===
{{main|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, [[Evangelicalism|evangelical]] [[Protestant]] values. The wedge metaphor is attributed to [[Phillip E. Johnson]] and depicts a metal [[Wedge (mechanical device)|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."<ref name="Young">{{cite book |last1=Young |first1=Matt |last2=Strode |first2=Paul |title=Why Evolution Works (and Creationism Fails) |date=15 May 2009 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-4864-7 |page=30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AsJDTq2wTQEC |access-date=17 November 2021 |language=en |archive-date=May 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230523013340/https://books.google.com/books?id=AsJDTq2wTQEC |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Center for Science and Culture===
{{Main|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,<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://mindmatters.ai/about/|title= Mind Matters|access-date= July 10, 2022|website= Mind Matters|archive-date= July 19, 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220719011917/https://mindmatters.ai/about/|url-status= live}}</ref> operated by the non-profit Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://centerforintelligence.org/|title=Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence|access-date=July 10, 2022|website=Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence|archive-date=July 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220710170611/https://centerforintelligence.org/|url-status=live}}</ref>  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."<ref>*{{cite book |last1=Forrest |first1=Barbara |author-link1=Barbara Forrest |last2=Gross |first2=Paul R. |author-link2=Paul R. Gross |year=2004 |title=Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design |location=Oxford; New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=19, 23 |isbn=0-19-515742-7 |oclc=50913078 |lccn=2002192677 |ref=Forrest & Gross 2004 |title-link=Creationism's Trojan Horse }}</ref>

===Other issues===
====Homelessness====
[[Christopher Rufo]], an activist who later opposed the teaching of [[critical race theory]], wrote frequently on the subject of [[homelessness]] while he worked for the Discovery Institute.<ref name="nymag-2021-07">{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Sarah |title=How to Manufacture a Moral Panic |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/christopher-rufo-and-the-critical-race-theory-moral-panic.html |access-date=March 29, 2022 |work=Intelligencer |date=July 11, 2021 |language=en-us |archive-date=July 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711130537/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/christopher-rufo-and-the-critical-race-theory-moral-panic.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 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{{emdash}}"socialist intellectuals", "compassion brigades", the "homeless-industrial complex", and the "addiction evangelists"{{emdash}}had successfully framed the debate on homelessness and diverted funding to their projects.<ref name="Walker_20181102">{{Cite news| last = Walker| first = Meghan| title = City council candidate Christopher Rufo takes on homelessness in upcoming public event| work = My Ballard| location = Ballard, Seattle| access-date = November 19, 2022| date = November 2, 2018| url = https://www.myballard.com/2018/11/02/city-council-candidate-christopher-rufo-takes-on-homelessness-in-upcoming-public-event/| archive-date = November 19, 2022| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221119200654/https://www.myballard.com/2018/11/02/city-council-candidate-christopher-rufo-takes-on-homelessness-in-upcoming-public-event/| url-status = live}}</ref><ref name="Rufo_20181016">{{cite report |last=Rufo |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Rufo |url=https://www.discovery.org/a/20243/ |work=Discovery Institute |date=October 16, 2018 |access-date=November 19, 2022 |title=The Politics of Ruinous Compassion: How Seattle's Homelessness Policy Perpetuates the Crisis And How We Can Fix It |series=A Discovery Institute White Paper |archive-date=November 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221119200652/https://www.discovery.org/a/20243/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He described how the "compassion brigade" had called for social justice using terms such as "compassion, empathy, bias, inequality, root causes, systemic racism."<ref name="Rufo_20181016"/> Rufo brought negative attention to All Home, which at the time was [[King County, Washington]]'s homelessness agency, by sharing a video of a [[stripper]] performing at a conference on homelessness. All Home's director was placed on [[administrative leave]] and resigned shortly thereafter.<ref name="sacbee-2019-12">{{cite news |last1=Lin |first1=Summer |title=Dancer was hired to strip at Seattle homelessness conference. The video leaked online |url=https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/article238461743.html |access-date=March 29, 2022 |work=The Sacramento Bee |date=December 27, 2019 |archive-date=July 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220721120421/https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/article238461743.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

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.<ref name="psbj-2022-03">{{cite news |last1=Bassett |first1=Caitlin |last2=Marbut |first2=Robert |title=Opinion: Generous donation gone to waste on bad homelessness policy |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2022/03/28/bad-homelessness-policy-costs-seattle-donors.html |access-date=March 29, 2022 |work=Puget Sound Business Journal |publisher=American City Business Journals |date=March 28, 2022 |archive-date=March 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328164701/https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2022/03/28/bad-homelessness-policy-costs-seattle-donors.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

====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]] [[Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election|was stolen]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Braterman |first=Paul |date=2021-02-04 |title=Why creationism bears all the hallmarks of a conspiracy theory |url=http://theconversation.com/why-creationism-bears-all-the-hallmarks-of-a-conspiracy-theory-153831 |access-date=2022-08-10 |website=The Conversation |language=en |archive-date=August 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811063335/https://theconversation.com/why-creationism-bears-all-the-hallmarks-of-a-conspiracy-theory-153831 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Climate change ===
The Discovery Institute website has posted articles [[Climate change denial|denying]] the [[scientific consensus on climate change]].<ref name=":0" />