Phillip E. Johnson
Phillip E. Johnson (June 18, 1940 – November 2, 2019)[1] was a UC Berkeley law professor, opponent of evolutionary science, co-founder of the pseudoscientific intelligent design movement, author of the "Wedge strategy" and co-founder of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture (CSC). He described himself as "in a sense the father of the intelligent design movement".[2] He was a critic of Darwinism, which he described as "fully naturalistic evolution, involving chance mechanisms and natural selection".[3] The wedge strategy aims to change public opinion and scientific consensus, and seeks to convince the scientific community to allow a role for theism, or causes beyond naturalistic explanation, in scientific discourse.[4] Johnson argued that scientists accepted the theory of evolution "before it was rigorously tested, and thereafter used all their authority to convince the public that naturalistic processes are sufficient to produce a human from a bacterium, and a bacterium from a mix of chemicals."[5]
Phillip E. Johnson | |
---|---|
Born | Aurora, Illinois, U.S. | June 18, 1940
Died | November 2019 79) Berkeley, California, U.S. | (aged
Occupation(s) | Law professor, author |
Known for | Intelligent design |
The scientific community considers Johnson's defense of intelligent design to be pseudoscientific.[6][7][8][9]
Biography
Johnson was born in Aurora, Illinois, in 1940. He received a BA degree in English literature, from Harvard University, in 1961. He studied law at the University of Chicago, graduating top of his class, and received a Juris Doctor in 1965.[10][11][12] He served as a law clerk for the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Earl Warren and Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court Roger J. Traynor. Johnson became a member of the California Bar in January 1966.[13] From 1967 to 2000, Johnson was an active professor of law at the U.C. Berkeley School of Law and retained the title professor emeritus at the time of his death. Johnson served as deputy district attorney and held visiting professorships at Emory University and at University College London.[12]
At the age of 38, Johnson became a born again Christian following a divorce,[14] and later became an elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).[15] Johnson recounted that on sabbatical in England he sought, through prayer, inspiration for what he should do with the rest of his life, and then received an epiphany after he read Richard Dawkins' The Blind Watchmaker (1986) and Michael Denton's Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (1985). Johnson later said, "Something about the Darwinists' rhetorical style made me think they had something to hide."[16] Despite having no formal background in biology, he felt that he could add insight into the premises and arguments. Johnson stated that he approached the creation evolution dispute not as a scientist but as an academic lawyer by profession, with a specialty in analyzing the logic of arguments and identifying the assumptions that lie behind those arguments. He noted that what people think about evolutionism depends very heavily on the kind of logic they employ and the kind of assumptions they make. Further, he pointed out that four of the eleven members of the special committee appointed by the National Academy of Sciences to prepare its official booklet titled Science and Creationism were lawyers.[17] (That first edition of the publication, which was finished in 1984, was prepared as an amicus brief in the Edwards v. Aguillard case that went before the U.S. Supreme Court.[18]) In 1989 Of Pandas and People by Percival Davis and Dean H. Kenyon was published as the first book to promote intelligent design.[19]
The first edition of Darwin on Trial was published in 1991. In notes listing his sources, Johnson said about Of Pandas and People that "This book is 'creationist' only in the sense that it juxtaposes a paradigm of 'intelligent design' with the dominant paradigm of (naturalistic) evolution, and makes the case for the former. It does not rely on the authority of the Bible."[19] Following that, Johnson sought supporters for his "Wedge Strategy".[14] In the ID blog Evolution News, Casey Luskin described him as Godfather of the intelligent design movement,[20] PBS said he was "known as the father of intelligent design".[21] He is a critic of methodological naturalism (the basic principle that science can only investigate natural causes for observable phenomena), and espouses a philosophy he has coined "theistic realism."[22] He is the author of several books on intelligent design, science, philosophy, and religion, as well as textbooks on criminal law. He has appeared on various programs such as PBS's Firing Line[23] and a Nova episode, "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial."[24]
Since 2001, Johnson had suffered a series of minor right brain strokes. His rehabilitations limited his public activities and participation in the debate on intelligent design, because of both their physical effects and Johnson's belief that they were signs from God urging him to spend more time with his faith and family and less in prideful debate.[25] In 2004, he was awarded the inaugural "Phillip E. Johnson Award for Liberty and Truth" by Biola University, a private evangelical Christian college noted for its promotion of intelligent design.[26] Johnson had two children and lived with his wife in Berkeley, California.[27][28]
Johnson stated in an interview that he believed "the strength of America is not in its towers or in its battleships, it's in its faith. Of course, I said that, but I wasn't sure it was really true anymore. This isn't the same country we were in the previous decades." Johnson said the U.S. was "cringing in fear" of Muslim terrorists after the September 11 attacks and that professors were afraid to discuss it "because they're afraid of what the Muslim students will do. They're afraid it won't keep the peace on campus. I never thought our country would descend to this level. We are afraid to search the truth and to proclaim it. We once knew who the true God was and were able to proclaim it frankly. But since about 1960 we've been hiding from that. We've been trying to pretend that all religions are the same."[29]
Intelligent design
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Johnson is best known as one of the founders of the intelligent design movement, principal architect of the wedge strategy, author of the Santorum Amendment, and one of the ID movement's most prolific authors. Johnson is co-founder and program advisor of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. Johnson has advocated strongly in the public and political spheres for the teaching of intelligent design as preferable to the teaching of evolution, which Johnson characterizes as "atheistic" and "falsified by all the evidence" and whose "logic is terrible." In portraying the philosophy of science, and by extension its theories such as evolution, as atheistic, Johnson argues that a more valid alternative is "theistic realism." Theistic realism asserts that science, by relying upon methodological naturalism, demands an a priori adoption of a naturalistic philosophy that wrongly dismisses out of hand any explanation that contains a supernatural cause.
Johnson rejects common descent and does not take a position on the age of the Earth.[32][33] These concepts are a common theme in his books, including Darwin on Trial, Reason in the Balance: The Case Against Naturalism in Science, Law & Education (1995), Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds (1997), and The Wedge of Truth: Splitting the Foundations of Naturalism (2000). Eugenie Scott wrote that Darwin on Trial "teaches little that is accurate about either the nature of science, or the topic of evolution. It is recommended neither by scientists nor educators."[34] Working through the Center for Science and Culture, Johnson wrote the early draft language of the Santorum Amendment, which encouraged a "Teach the Controversy" approach to evolution in public school education.[35]
Nancy Pearcey, a Center for Science and Culture fellow and Johnson associate, credits Johnson's leadership of the intelligent design movement in two of her most recent publications. In an interview with Johnson for World magazine, Pearcey says, "It is not only in politics that leaders forge movements. Phillip Johnson has developed what is called the 'Intelligent Design' movement ..."[36] In Christianity Today, she reveals Johnson's religious beliefs and his criticism of evolution and affirms Johnson as "The unofficial spokesman for ID"[37] The scientific community views intelligent design as unscientific, pseudoscience and junk science.[7][8][9][38][39][40][41]
Darwin on Trial
In the book Darwin on Trial, 1991, Johnson disputed the tenets of evolution and promoted Intelligent design. He wrote the book with the thesis that evolution could be "tried" like a defendant in court. Darwin on Trial became a central text of the intelligent design movement.[42]
Wedge strategy
In its earliest days the intelligent design movement was called the 'wedge movement'. The wedge metaphor, attributed to Johnson, is that of a metal wedge splitting a log and represents using an aggressive public relations program to create an opening for the supernatural in the public's understanding of science.[43] Johnson acknowledges that the goal of the intelligent design movement is to promote a theistic agenda as a scientific concept.[44][45][46]
According to Johnson, the wedge movement, if not the term, began in 1992:
The movement we now call the wedge made its public debut at a conference of scientists and philosophers held at Southern Methodist University in March 1992, following the publication of my book Darwin on Trial. The conference brought together as speakers some key Wedge figures, particularly Michael Behe, Stephen Meyer, William Dembski, and myself.[47]
Johnson describes the wedge movement as devoted to a "program of questioning the materialistic basis of science" and reclaiming the "intellectual world" from the "atheists and agnostics" that Johnson believes are synonymous with this "scientific materialist culture." He describes the "logic of our movement" as:[48]
- "The first thing you understand is that the Darwinian theory isn't true. It's falsified by all of the evidence, and the logic is terrible."
- "...the next question that occurs to you is, 'Well, where might you get truth?' ... I start with John 1:1, 'In the beginning was the Word.' In the beginning was intelligence, purpose, and wisdom. The Bible had that right and the materialist scientists are deluding themselves."
- "The next question is: Why do so many brilliant, well-informed, intelligent people fool themselves for so long with such bad thinking and bad evidence?" Johnson sees this as an issue of "turning away from" self-evident truth, the "sin question" and the need to prepare the way for acceptance of a Creator.
Johnson has been explicit about the Christian principles underlying his philosophy and agenda and that of the intelligent design movement. In speaking at the 1999 "Reclaiming America for Christ Conference," Johnson has described the movement thus:
I have built an intellectual movement in the universities and churches that we call "The Wedge," which is devoted to scholarship and writing that furthers this program of questioning the materialistic basis of science.
...
In summary, we have to educate our young people; we have to give them the armor they need. We have to think about how we're going on the offensive rather than staying on the defensive. And above all, we have to come out to the culture with the view that we are the ones who really stand for freedom of thought. You see, we don't have to fear freedom of thought because good thinking done in the right way will eventually lead back to the Church, to the truth-the truth that sets people free, even if it goes through a couple of detours on the way. And so we're the ones that stand for good science, objective reasoning, assumptions on the table, a high level of education, and freedom of conscience to think as we are capable of thinking. That's what America stands for, and that's something we stand for, and that's something the Christian Church and the Christian Gospel stand for-the truth that makes you free. Let's recapture that, while we're recapturing America.
— Johnson, How The Evolution Debate Can Be Won[48]
Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State described this vision as:
The objective [of the wedge strategy] is to convince people that Darwinism is inherently atheistic, thus shifting the debate from creationism vs. evolution to the existence of God vs. the non-existence of God. From there people are introduced to 'the truth' of the Bible and then 'the question of sin' and finally 'introduced to Jesus.'[49]
Johnson is one of the authors of the Discovery Institute's Wedge Document and its "Teach the Controversy" campaign, which attempts to cast doubt on the validity of the theory of evolution, its acceptance within the scientific community, and reduce its role in public school science curricula while promoting intelligent design. The "Teach the Controversy" campaign portrays evolution as "a theory in crisis."
In his 1997 book Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds Johnson summed up the underlying philosophy of his advocacy for intelligent design and against methodological and philosophical naturalism:
If we understand our own times, we will know that we should affirm the reality of God by challenging the domination of materialism and naturalism in the world of the mind. With the assistance of many friends I have developed a strategy for doing this, ... We call our strategy the "wedge".[50]
Johnson has described the wedge strategy as:
- "We are taking an intuition most people have [the belief in God] and making it a scientific and academic enterprise. We are removing the most important cultural roadblock to accepting the role of God as creator."[51]
- "Our strategy has been to change the subject a bit, so that we can get the issue of intelligent design, which really means the reality of God, before the academic world and into the schools."[44]
- "This isn't really, and never has been, a debate about science. It's about religion and philosophy."[45]
- "So the question is: 'How to win?' That's when I began to develop what you now see full-fledged in the 'wedge' strategy: 'Stick with the most important thing' —the mechanism and the building up of information. Get the Bible and the Book of Genesis out of the debate because you do not want to raise the so-called Bible-science dichotomy. Phrase the argument in such a way that you can get it heard in the secular academy and in a way that tends to unify the religious dissenters. That means concentrating on, 'Do you need a Creator to do the creating, or can nature do it on its own?' and refusing to get sidetracked onto other issues, which people are always trying to do."[15]
When asked how best to raise doubts and question evolution with non-believers, Johnson responded:
What I am not doing is bringing the Bible into the university and saying, "We should believe this." Bringing the Bible into question works very well when you are talking to a Bible-believing audience. But it is a disastrous thing to do when you are talking, as I am constantly, to a world of people for whom the fact that something is in the Bible is a reason for not believing it. You see, if they thought they had good evidence for something, and then they saw it in the Bible, they would begin to doubt. That is what has to be kept out of the argument if you are going to do what I to do, which is to focus on the defects in their [the evolutionist's] case—the bad logic, the bad science, the bad reasoning, and the bad evidence.[52]
Wedge of Truth
The book Wedge of Truth, published by Johnson in 2000, is an expansion of the Wedge Document. He states that truth has the ability to speak for itself.[53]
Criticism
Johnson has been accused of being intellectually dishonest in his arguments advancing intelligent design and attacking the scientific community.[54][55] Johnson has employed numerous equivocations regarding the term "naturalism," failing to distinguish between methodological naturalism (in which science is used to study the natural world and says nothing about the supernatural) versus philosophical naturalism (the philosophical belief that nothing exists but the natural world, and adopts as a premise the idea that there is no supernatural world or deities).[56][57] In fact-checking Johnson's books Darwin on Trial and Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds, Brian Spitzer, an associate professor of biology at the University of Redlands, argued that almost every scientific source Johnson cited had been misused or distorted, from simple misinterpretations and innuendos to outright fabrications. Spitzer described Darwin on Trial as the most deceptive book he had ever read.[55]
In 1993 the ASA's Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith published a review of Darwin on Trial by Nancey Murphy, an associate professor of Christian philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary, who described Johnson's arguments as "dogmatic and unconvincing", primarily because "he does not adequately understand scientific reasoning."[58] In a later interview she said she faced a campaign to get her fired after she expressed her view that intelligent design was not only poor theology, but "so stupid, I don't want to give them my time." Murphy, who accepts the validity of evolution, said that Johnson called a trustee in an attempt to get her fired and stated "His tactic has always been to fight dirty when anyone attacks his ideas." Johnson admits he had spoken with a former trustee of the seminary who was himself upset with Murphy, but denies any responsibility for action taken against her. He said: "It's the Darwinists who hold the power in academia and who threaten the professional status and livelihoods of anyone who disagrees ... They feel to teach anything but their orthodoxy is an act of professional treason."[59]
Since Johnson is considered by those both inside and outside the movement to be the father and architect of the intelligent design movement and its strategies,[60] his statements are often used to validate the criticisms leveled by those who allege that the Discovery Institute and its allied organizations are merely stripping the obvious religious content from their anti-evolution assertions as a means of avoiding the legal restrictions of the Establishment Clause, a view reinforced by the December 2005 ruling in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial which found that intelligent design is not science and is essentially religious in nature. They argue that ID is an attempt to put a patina of secularity on top of what is a fundamentally religious belief and thus that the "Teach the Controversy" exhortation is disingenuous, particularly when contrasted to his statements in The Wall Street Journal and other secular media. Critics point out that contrary to the Discovery Institute's and Johnson's claims, the theory of evolution is well-supported and accepted within the scientific community, with debates regarding how evolution occurred, not if it occurred. Popular disagreement with evolutionary theory should not be considered as a reason for challenging it as a scientifically valid subject to be taught, they contend.
Critics of Johnson point to his central role in the Discovery Institute's carefully orchestrated campaign known as the wedge strategy. The wedge strategy, as envisioned by the Discovery Institute, is designed to leave the science establishment looking close-minded in the short term with a long-term goal being a redefinition of science that centers on the removal of methodological naturalism from the philosophy of science and the scientific method, thereby allowing for supernatural explanations to be introduced as science. Critics note that Johnson, as a principal officer of the Discovery Institute, often cites an overall plan to put the United States on a course toward the theocracy envisioned in the wedge strategy, and that the Discovery Institute as a matter of policy intentionally obfuscates its agenda.[61] According to Johnson, "The movement we now call the wedge made its public debut at a conference of scientists and philosophers held at Southern Methodist University in March 1992."[47]
During the 1990s, Johnson and several others challenged the scientific consensus by claiming that HIV tests do not detect HIV,[62] AIDS statistics are grossly exaggerated,[63] and that HIV is not the cause of AIDS.[64][65][66][67][68] As a member of The Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of the HIV/AIDS Hypothesis, a prominent AIDS denialist group,[62] Johnson questioned if HIV caused AIDS.[69][70][6][71] He wrote several articles about the subject, including a piece in Reason magazine.[69] He was one of the 12 founding members of The Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of the HIV/AIDS Hypothesis and signatory to the group's letter to the editor of Science asserting that HIV is only tautologically associated with AIDS and that HIV tests are inaccurate.[62] Johnson, along with others, have been criticized for their questioning of the scientific and medical consensus that HIV causes AIDS.[72] In the Washington University Law Review, Matthew J. Brauer, Barbara Forrest, and Steven G. Gey faulted Johnson, Wells and others for denying the HIV/AIDS connection and promoting denialism via a petition designed to garner publicity but which did not have any scientific support.[73]
Admission that there is no theory of intelligent design
In his later years Johnson retreated from his contention that intelligent design was a scientific theory. In an interview[74] in 2006 he described it as follows:
I also don’t think that there is really a theory of intelligent design at the present time to propose as a comparable alternative to the Darwinian theory, which is, whatever errors it might contain, a fully worked out scheme. There is no intelligent design theory that’s comparable. Working out a positive theory is the job of the scientific people that we have affiliated with the movement. Some of them are quite convinced that it’s doable, but that’s for them to prove…No product is ready for competition in the educational world.
Bibliography
Criminal law
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- ——— (1975). Criminal Law: Cases, Materials, and Text on the Substantive Criminal Law in its Procedural Context. American Casebook Series. St. Paul, MN: West Pub Co. LCCN 75005083. OCLC 1529179.
- —— (1976). 1976 Supplement to Criminal Law: Cases, Materials, and Text on the Substantive Criminal Law in its Procedural Context. American Casebook Series. St. Paul, MN: West Pub. LCCN 77354635. OCLC 2607013.
- ——— (1977). 1977 Supplement to Criminal Law: Cases, Materials, and Text on the Substantive Criminal Law in its Procedural Context. American Casebook Series. St. Paul, MN: West Pub Co. LCCN 77354398. OCLC 3670876.
- ——— (1980). Criminal Law: Cases, Materials, and Text on the Substantive Criminal Law in its Procedural Context. American Casebook Series. Problems by the author and Myron Moskovitz (2nd ed.). St. Paul, MN: West Pub Co. LCCN 80014283. OCLC 22560980.
- ——— (1985). Criminal Law: Cases, Materials, and Text. American Casebook Series. Problems by the author and Myron Moskovitz (3rd ed.). St. Paul, MN: West Pub Co. ISBN 9780314896827. LCCN 85005079. OCLC 12120243.
- ——— (1988). Goldenberg, Norman S. (ed.). Casenote Legal Briefs. Criminal Law: Adaptable to Courses Utilizing Johnson's Casebook on Criminal Law. Staff writers, Richard A. Lovich, Kemp Richardson. Beverly Hills, CA: Casenotes Pub. Co. ISBN 978-0-87457-093-9. LCCN 89117347. OCLC 20391227.
- ——— (1988). Cases and Materials on Criminal Procedure. American Casebook Series. St. Paul, MN: West Pub Co. ISBN 978-0-314-60025-7. LCCN 87025297. OCLC 16684338.
- —— (1990). Criminal Law: Cases, Materials, and Text. American Casebook Series (4th ed.). St. Paul, MN: West Pu Co. ISBN 978-0-314-72635-3. LCCN 90035247. OCLC 21375540.
- ——— (1991). Goldenberg, Norman S.; Tenen, Peter; Switzer, Robert J. (eds.). Casenote Legal Briefs. Criminal Law: Adaptable to Courses Utilizing Johnson's Casebook on Criminal Law. Staff writers, Richard A. Lovich, Kemp Richardson. Santa Monica, CA: Casenotes Pub. Co. ISBN 978-0-87457-156-1. LCCN 92124154. OCLC 26128520.
- ——— (1994). Cases and Materials on Criminal Procedure. American Casebook Series (2nd ed.). St. Paul, MN: West Pub Co. ISBN 978-0-314-03584-4. LCCN 94013551. OCLC 30156868.
- —— (1995). Criminal Law: Cases, Materials, and Text. American Casebook Series (5th ed.). St. Paul, MN: West Pub Co. ISBN 978-0-314-06410-3. LCCN 95022555. OCLC 32664822.
- ——— (2000). Cases and Materials on Criminal Procedure. American Casebook Series (3rd ed.). St. Paul, MN: West Group. ISBN 978-0-314-24119-1. LCCN 00702489. OCLC 44547056.
- ——— (2000). Criminal Law: Cases, Materials, and Text. American Casebook Series (6th ed.). St. Paul, MN: West Group. ISBN 978-0-314-24091-0. LCCN 00697867. OCLC 45223793.
- ———; Cloud, Morgan (2002). Criminal Law: Cases, Materials, and Text. American Casebook Series (7th ed.). St. Paul, MN: West Group. ISBN 978-0-314-25649-2. LCCN 2003267475. OCLC 50390778.
- Arnold, Brian G.; Caves, Amy Melissa; Rose, Paul; Johnson, Phillip E. (2002). Blatt, Dana L. (ed.). West Group High Court Case Summaries. Criminal Law: Keyed to Johnson's Casebook on Criminal Law (7th ed.). Eagan, MN: West Group. ISBN 978-0-314-14529-1. LCCN 2003265465. OCLC 56517350.
- Johnson, Phillip E.; Cloud, Morgan (2005). Constitutional Criminal Procedure: From Investigation to Trial. American Casebook Series (4th ed.). St. Paul, MN: Thomson/West. ISBN 978-0-314-25660-7. LCCN 2005282241. OCLC 61330436.
Darwinism
- ——— (1990). Evolution as Dogma: The Establishment of Naturalism. Dallas, TX: Haughton Pub. Co. LCCN 00268240. OCLC 27190651.
- ——— (1991). Darwin on Trial. Washington, DC: Regnery Gateway. ISBN 978-0-89526-535-7. LCCN 90026218. OCLC 22906277.
- ——— (1993). Darwin on Trial (2nd ed.). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-1324-7. LCCN 93029217. OCLC 28889094.
- ——— (1995). Reason in the Balance: The Case Against Naturalism in Science, Law & Education. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-1610-1. LCCN 95012620. OCLC 32384818.
- ——— (1997). Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-1360-5. LCCN 97012916. OCLC 36621960.
- ——— (1998). Objections Sustained: Subversive Essays on Evolution, Law & Culture. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-1941-6. LCCN 98006866. OCLC 38898010.
- —— (2000). The Wedge of Truth: Splitting the Foundations of Naturalism. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-2267-6. LCCN 00039586. OCLC 43903750.
- ——— (2002). The Right Questions: Truth, Meaning & Public Debate. Foreword by Nancy Pearcey. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-2294-2. LCCN 2002006756. OCLC 49773676.
- ———; Reynolds, John Mark (2010). Against All Gods: What's Right and Wrong About the New Atheism. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-3738-0. LCCN 2010000182. OCLC 460060927.
- ——— (2010) [1991; Washington, DC: Regnery Gateway]. Darwin on Trial. New introduction by Michael Behe (20th anniversary, 3rd ed.). Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books. ISBN 978-0-8308-3831-8. LCCN 2010019862. OCLC 615339705.
Notes
- Died: Phillip E. Johnson, Lawyer who Put Darwin on Trial
- "Defending Intelligent Design - NOVA". PBS. April 6, 2007. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
- Johnson 1991, chapter 1.
- Johnson 1997, pp. 91–92.
- Johnson 1991, chapter 12.
- Shallit, Jeffrey (August 9, 2000). "AIDS conference proves pseudoscience can kill you". Waterloo Region Record. Ontario, CA: Metroland Media Group. ISSN 0824-5150.
- Mu, David (Fall 2005). "Trojan Horse or Legitimate Science: Deconstructing the Debate over Intelligent Design" (PDF). Harvard Science Review. 19 (1): 22–25. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 9, 2022. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
... for most members of the mainstream scientific community, ID is not a scientific theory, but a creationist pseudoscience.
- Workosky, Cindy (August 3, 2005). "National Science Teachers Association Disappointed About Intelligent Design Comments Made by President Bush" (Press release). Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association. Archived from the original on September 8, 2021. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
'We stand with the nation's leading scientific organizations and scientists, including Dr. John Marburger, the president's top science advisor, in stating that intelligent design is not science.' ... 'It is simply not fair to present pseudoscience to students in the science classroom.'
- Attie, Alan D.; Sober, Elliott; Numbers, Ronald L.; Amasino, Richard M.; Cox, Beth; Berceau, Terese; Powell, Thomas; Cox, Michael M. (May 1, 2006). "Defending science education against intelligent design: a call to action". Journal of Clinical Investigation. 116 (5): 1134–38. doi:10.1172/JCI28449. ISSN 0021-9738. PMC 1451210. PMID 16670753.
- Stafford, Tim (December 8, 1997). "The Making of a Revolution". ChristianityToday.com. Archived from the original on December 3, 1998. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
- "Meet Phillip Johnson". Christian book. Peabody, MA. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- "Faculty Profiles". Berkeley, CA: UC Berkeley School of Law. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- "Phillip E Johnson". The State Bar of California. San Francisco, CA. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Forrest 2001
- Johnson, Phillip E. (June 2002). "Berkeley's Radical". Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity (Interview). 15 (5). Interviewed by James M. Kushiner. Chicago, IL: Fellowship of St. James. ISSN 0897-327X. Retrieved December 26, 2013. Johnson interviewed in November 2000.
- Dembski 2006
- Johnson 2010, p. 32, n.3.
- Labov, Jay B.; Kline Pope, Barbara (March 2008). "Understanding Our Audiences: The Design and Evolution of Science, Evolution, and Creationism". CBE: Life Sciences Education. 7 (1): 20–24. doi:10.1187/cbe.07-12-0103. ISSN 1931-7913. PMC 2262128. PMID 18316803.
- Stefaan Blancke; Hans Henrik Hjermitslev; Peter C. Kjærgaard (November 27, 2014). Creationism in Europe. JHU Press. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-1-4214-1563-5. (foreword by Ron Numbers)
- "Why Phillip Johnson Matters: A Biography | Evolution News". Evolution News. November 17, 2011. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
- "Defending Intelligent Design — NOVA | PBS". www.pbs.org. October 2007. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
- Johnson, Phillip E. (May–June 1996). "Third-Party Science". Books & Culture (Book review). 2 (3). Archived from the original on February 19, 2014. Retrieved December 26, 2013. Article reprinted in full by Access Research Network here.
- "A Firing Line Debate: Resolved: That the Evolutionists Should Acknowledge Creation". Firing Line (Debate special). Episode 203. December 19, 1997. PBS. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved December 26, 2013. Video on YouTube.
- "Discovery Institute Responses to PBS/NOVA's "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial" Movie | Evolution News". Evolution News. February 11, 2009. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
- Condon, Kevin (September 1, 2004). "The Right Questions". Denver Journal (Book review). 7. OCLC 54379462. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
- "Antony Flew Receives Award From Intelligent Design Community". Biola University. La Mirada, CA. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Linder, Doug. "Biography of Phillip E. Johnson". www.famous-trials.com. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
- "Berkeley's Radical: An Interview with Phillip Johnson". www.arn.org. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
- Staub, Dick (December 1, 2002). "The Dick Staub Interview: Phillip Johnson". Christianity Today. ISSN 0009-5753. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
- Klinghoffer, David (November 3, 2019). "Remembering Phillip E. Johnson (1940-2019): The Man Who Lit the Match". Evolution News.
- Reynolds, John Mark (November 3, 2019). "Gandalf Has Gone to the West (Phillip E. Johnson)". Eidos.
- Powell, Michael (May 15, 2005). "Doubting Rationalist". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Olasky (January 27, 2004). "Creationists and Intelligent Design". World Magazine Blog. Asheville, NC: God's World Publications. ISSN 0888-157X. Archived from the original on November 14, 2004.
- Scott, Eugenie C.; Sager, Thomas C. (Winter 1992). "Review Article: Darwin on Trial, by Phillip Johnson". Creation/Evolution. 12 (31): 47–56. Retrieved July 27, 2008.
- Larson, Edward J. (March 29, 2006). "Biology Wars: The Religion, Science and Education Controversy" (PDF). Religion & Public Life Project. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 12, 2013. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
That language, which was penned by Phil Johnson for Rick Santorum, passed the Senate as an amendment to the No Child Left Behind education bill, and eventually became part of the conference report for that legislation.
- Pearcey, Nancy R. (July 29, 2000). "Wedge Issues". World. 15 (29). ISSN 0888-157X. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Pearcey, Nancy R. (May 22, 2000). "We're Not in Kansas Anymore". Christianity Today (Reprint). ISSN 0009-5753. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- See: 1) List of scientific societies explicitly rejecting intelligent design 2) Kitzmiller v. Dover page 83. 3) The Discovery Institute's A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism petition begun in 2001 has been signed by "over 600 scientists" as of August 20, 2006. 4) A four-day A Scientific Support for Darwinism petition gained 7,733 signatories from scientists opposing ID. 5) The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the largest association of scientists in the U.S., has 120,000 members, and firmly rejects ID. 6) More than 70,000 Australian scientists and educators condemn teaching of intelligent design in school science classes. 7) List of statements from scientific professional organizations on the status intelligent design and other forms of creationism.
- Orr, H. Allen (May 30, 2005). "Devolution". The New Yorker. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
Biologists aren't alarmed by intelligent design's arrival in Dover and elsewhere because they have all sworn allegiance to atheistic materialism; they're alarmed because intelligent design is junk science.
- Pennock 1999
- Bergin, Mark (February 25, 2006). "Junk science". World. 21 (8). ISSN 0888-157X. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Stewart, Robert (2007). Intelligent design: William A. Dembski Michael Ruse in dialogue. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-8006-6218-9.
Most observers, both within and without the ID community, recognize University of California Berkeley law professor Phillip E, Johnson as the father of ID, and his 1991 book, Darwin on Trial [...] as a landmark moment in the history of the movement.
- Forrest, Barbara (May 2007). "Understanding The Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals" (PDF). Center for Inquiry. Washington, D.C.: Center for Inquiry. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 19, 2011. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Nickson, Elizabeth (February 6, 2004). "Let's Be Intelligent about Darwin". National Post (Reprint). Toronto, Ontario: Postmedia Network. ISSN 1486-8008. Archived from the original on December 28, 2013. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Grelen, Jay (November 30, 1996). "Witnesses for the prosecution". World. 11 (28): 18. ISSN 0888-157X. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
- Buell & Hearn 1994
- Johnson, Phillip E. (July–August 1999). "The Wedge: Breaking the Modernist Monopoly on Science". Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity. 12 (4). ISSN 0897-327X. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Johnson, Phillip E. "How The Evolution Debate Can Be Won". Coral Ridge Ministries. Fort Lauderdale, FL: Coral Ridge Ministries. Archived from the original on November 7, 2007. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Boston, Rob (April 1999). "Missionary Man". Church & State. ISSN 2163-3746. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Johnson 1997, pp. 91–92
- Watanabe, Teresa (March 25, 2001). "Enlisting Science to Find the Fingerprints of a Creator". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Johnson, Phillip E. "How to Debate the Issue". The Kennedy Commentary. Fort Lauderdale, FL: Coral Ridge Ministries. Archived from the original on March 13, 2007. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Johnson 2000, p. 13
- Pieret, John (February 16, 2004). "Another Dishonest Creationist Quote". TalkOrigins Archive. Houston, TX: The TalkOrigins Foundation, Inc. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Spitzer, Brian (August 4, 2002). "The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth?". Talk Reason. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Isaak, Mark (September 24, 2002). "A Philosophical Premise of 'Naturalism'?". Talkdesign.org. Concord, CA: Wesley R. Elsberry. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Scott, Eugenie C. (Winter 1993). "Darwin Prosecuted: Review of Johnson's Darwin on Trial". Creation/Evolution. 13 (33): 36–47. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Murphy, Nancey. "Phillip Johnson on Trial: A Critique of His Critique of Darwin". American Scientific Affiliation. Retrieved June 16, 2019., CV
- Vedantam, Shankar (February 5, 2006). "Eden and Evolution". The Washington Post. p. W08. Retrieved May 17, 2008.
- Stewart 2007, p. 2
- Forrest, Barbara; Gross, Paul R. (2007). Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design. Oxford University Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-19-531973-6.
- Baumann, Eleen; Bethell, Tom; Bialy, Harvey; Duesberg, Peter H.; Farber, Celia; Geshekter, Charles L.; Johnson, Phillip E.; Maver, Robert W.; Schoch, Russell; Stewart, Gordon T.; Strohman, Richard C.; Thomas, Charles A. (1995). "AIDS Proposal". Science. 267 (5200): 945–6. Bibcode:1995Sci...267..945B. doi:10.1126/science.7863334. PMID 7863335. S2CID 45222215.
- Johnson, Phillip E. (October 2004). "Overestimating AIDS". Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity. 17 (8). ISSN 0897-327X. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Epstein 1996
- "HIV & AIDS - Phillip Johnson". VirusMyth: A Rethinking AID$ Website (Index of articles). Hilversum, Netherlands: Robert Laarhoven. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Quittman, Beth (September 8, 2006). "Undercover at the Discovery Institute". Seattlest (Blog). New York: Gothamist LLC. Archived from the original on October 20, 2006. Retrieved July 17, 2008.
- "Aids 'denialism' gathers strange bedfellows". The Vancouver Sun. Vancouver, BC: Postmedia Network. June 17, 2006. Archived from the original on July 30, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2008.
- Gey, Steven G.; Brauer, Matthew J.; Forrest, Barbara (2004). "Is it Science Yet?: Intelligent Design Creationism and the Constitution". Washington University Law Review. 83 (1). doi:10.2139/ssrn.590882.
- Thomas, Charles; Mullis, Karen; Johnson, Phillip (June 1994). "What causes AIDS?". Reason. ISSN 0048-6906. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Young, Craig (July 1, 2009). "AIDS Denialism: A South African Tragedy". GayNZ. Auckland, NZ: J&N Infolink. Archived from the original on December 28, 2013. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- "The Group". VirusMyth: A Rethinking AID$ Website. Hilversum, NL: Robert Laarhoven. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- "Aids 'denialism' gathers strange bedfellows". The Vancouver Sun. Vancouver, BC: Postmedia Network Inc. June 17, 2006. Archived from the original on July 30, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2008.
- Brauer, Matthew J.; Forrest, Barbara; Gey, Steven G. (2005). "Is It Science Yet?: Intelligent Design Creationism and the Constitution". Washington University Law Review. 83 (1): 79–80. ISSN 2166-7993. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 20, 2013. Retrieved June 23, 2009.
- Michelangelo D’Agostino. "In the matter of Berkeley v. Berkeley". Archived from the original on June 9, 2007.
References
- Buell, Jon A.; Hearn, Virginia, eds. (March 26–28, 1992). "Darwinism: Science or Philosophy" (PDF). Darwinism, Science or Philosophy?: Proceedings of a Symposium Entitled 'Darwinism, Scientific Inference or Philosophical Preference?': Held on the Southern Methodist University Campus in Dallas, Texas, March 26–28, 1992. Darwinism: Scientific Inference or Philosophical Preference?. Richardson, TX: Foundation for Thought and Ethics. ISBN 0-9642104-0-1. LCCN 94094523. OCLC 31602282. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
- Dembski, William A., ed. (2006). Darwin's Nemesis: Phillip Johnson and the Intelligent Design Movement. Foreword by Rick Santorum. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. ISBN 978-0-8308-2836-4. LCCN 2005033144. OCLC 62330745.
- Epstein, Steven (1996). Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge. pp. 1–466. ISBN 978-0-520-20233-7. LCCN 96016805. OCLC 470187113. PMID 11619509.
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ignored (help) - Forrest, Barbara (2001). "The Wedge at Work: How Intelligent Design Creationism Is Wedging Its Way into the Cultural and Academic Mainstream". In Pennock, Robert T (ed.). Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics: Philosophical, Theological, and Scientific Perspectives. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-66124-9. LCCN 2001031276. OCLC 46729201.
- Murphy, Nancey (2001). "Phillip Johnson on Trial: A Critique of His Critique of Darwin". In Pennock, Robert T (ed.). Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics: Philosophical, Theological, and Scientific Perspectives. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-66124-9. LCCN 2001031276. OCLC 46729201.
- Pennock, Robert T. (1999). Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creationism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-16180-0. LCCN 98027286. OCLC 39262003.
- Stewart, Robert B., ed. (2007). Intelligent Design: William A. Dembski & Michael Ruse in Dialogue. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0-8006-6218-9. LCCN 2007027505. OCLC 148895223.
External links
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- Articles by Phillip E. Johnson in Touchstone Magazine: A Journal of Mere Christianity, a bimonthly Christian publication
- The Religion of the Blind Watchmaker
- "Origin of the Specious" – an article by Ronald Bailey, published in the July 1997 issued of Reason magazine, concerns the development of intelligent design
- Johnson's writings on HIV and AIDS at the VirusMyth website
- "Phillip Johnson: From Crackpot to Dangerously Insane Crackpot" by Kevin T. Keith at the Lean Left blog
- Critiques of Phillip Johnson by Jim Lippard and Bill Hamilton at the TalkOrigins Archive
- "The Terrible Strength and Weakness of Naturalism" Archived July 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine – an interview of Phillip E. Johnson with Tal Brooke. SCP Journal. Vol. 21:4–22:1. Spring 1998. ISSN 0883-1300