''Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design'' is a 2004 book by

Barbara Forrest Barbara Carroll Forrest is a professor of philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. She is a critic of intelligent design and the Discovery Institute. Biography Forrest is a graduate of Hammond High School. She re ...

and Paul R. Gross on the origins of

intelligent design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins".#Numbers 2006, Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for it ...

, specifically the

Discovery Institute The Discovery Institute (DI) is a conservatism in the United States, politically conservative think tank that advocates the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific concept Article available froUniversiteit Gent of intelligent design (ID). It was fou ...

Center for the Renewal of 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 (DI), a conservative Christian think tank in the United States. The CSC lobbies for the inc ...

and its

wedge strategy The Wedge Strategy is a creationist political and social agenda authored by the Discovery Institute, the hub of the pseudoscientific intelligent design movement. The strategy was presented in a Discovery Institute internal memorandum known as ...

. The authors are highly critical of what they refer to as intelligent design creationism,Introduction to ''Creationism's Trojan Horse''
and document the

intelligent design movement The intelligent design movement is a neo-creationist religious campaign for broad social, academic and political change to promote and support the pseudoscientific Article available froUniversiteit Gent/ref> idea of intelligent design (ID), which ...

fundamentalist Christian Christian fundamentalism, also known as fundamental Christianity or fundamentalist Christianity, is a religious movement emphasizing biblical literalism. In its modern form, it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British an ...

origins and funding. The book grew out of an essay, "The Wedge at Work: How Intelligent Design Creationism Is Wedging Its Way into the Cultural and Academic Mainstream" which Forrest wrote for the book '' Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics'' (2001) edited by Robert T. Pennock. It is published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

and has a foreword by

Steven Weinberg Steven Weinberg (; May 3, 1933 – July 23, 2021) was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic inter ...

Reviews

Michael Cavanaugh, President of the

Institute on Religion in an Age of Science The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) is a non-denominational society that promotes and facilitates the ongoing dialectic between religion and science. The Institute has held annual week-long conferences at Star Island in New Ham ...

called the book "chilling", saying that "It lets one see how totalitarian religious thought can begin to take hold even of a multi-cultural free society." Karl Giberson, editor-in-chief of the

Templeton Foundation The John Templeton Foundation (Templeton Foundation) is a philanthropic organization founded by John Templeton in 1987. Templeton became wealthy as a contrarian investor, and wanted to support progress in religious and spiritual knowledge, espec ...

's ''

Science & Theology News ''Science & Theology News'' was a monthly international newspaper of the Templeton Foundation that focused on science and religion and dialogue between them, specifically the point of view that both are worthwhile and compatible endeavors. Har ...

'' chose it as the July's Editor's Choice and described it as a "remarkable analysis". Allan H. Harvey reviewed the book for ''

Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith ''Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith'', subtitled ''Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation'', is the academic publication of the American Scientific Affiliation. Background The ASA's original constitution provided two goals for t ...

'', the journal of the

American Scientific Affiliation The American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) is a Christian religious organization of scientists and people in science-related disciplines. The stated purpose is "to investigate any area relating Christian faith and science." The organization publi ...

and criticized the authors' understanding of

Christian theology Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Ch ...

, but wrote that "its thoroughness makes ''Creationism's Trojan Horse'' worth reading for those who are concerned about the movement's influence on public opinion and science education." There were also positive reviews in the

scientific literature Scientific literature encompasses a vast body of academic papers that spans various disciplines within the natural and social sciences. It primarily consists of academic papers that present original empirical research and theoretical ...

, by Steve Olson in ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'', by Rudolf A. Raff in '' Evolution & Development'', by Barry Palevitz in ''

BioScience ''BioScience'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal that is published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. It was established in 1964 and was preceded by the ''AIBS Bulletin'' (1951–1 ...

'' and by Lawrence S. Lerner in '' Physics & Society''. Chris Mooney reviewed the book for his

CSICOP The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is a program within the U.S. non-profit organization Center for Inquiry (CFI), which seeks to "p ...

column and used it to compare ID creationism with

young Earth creationism Young Earth creationism (YEC) is a form of creationism which holds as a central tenet that the Earth and its lifeforms were created by supernatural acts of the Abrahamic God between about 10,000 and 6,000 years ago, contradicting established s ...

. Biologist Bruce Grant described the authors as "heroes", saying their work was "the most thorough introduction to that enemy ntelligent design creationism. The book also had endorsements from

Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an Oxford fellow, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Simonyi Professor for the Publ ...

E.O. Wilson Eo or EO may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Education Otherwise, a home education organization * Elevorganisasjonen, a Norwegian student organization * Entrepreneurs' Organization, a nonprofit network * Evangelische Omroep, a publ ...

Ursula Goodenough Ursula W. Goodenough (born March 16, 1943) is a retired Professor of Biology Emerita at Washington University in St. Louis, where she researched on eukaryotic algae. She authored the textbook ''Genetics'' and the best-selling book ''The Sacred ...

Massimo Pigliucci Massimo Pigliucci (; born January 16, 1964) is an American philosopher and biologist who is professor of philosophy at the City College of New York, former co-host of the '' Rationally Speaking Podcast'', and former editor in chief for the online ...

, Eugenie C. Scott and

Steven Pinker Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a Canadian-American cognitive psychology, cognitive psychologist, psycholinguistics, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. He is an advocate of evolutionary psycholo ...

Response by the Discovery Institute

The main subject of the book, the

, was highly critical of ''Creationism's Trojan Horse''. Jonathan Witt of the Discovery Institute wrote a review in the theology journal '' Philosophia Christi'' published by the

Evangelical Philosophical Society The Evangelical Philosophical Society (EPS) is an organization devoted to the study of philosophy, philosophy of religion, philosophical theology, apologetics, and ethics from an evangelicalism, evangelical perspective. Membership is open to profes ...

and said that it had "erroneous reasoning" and that "on every page of the book, there is a tone of paranoia." Witt and

John G. West John G. West is a senior fellow at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute (DI), and associate director and vice president for public policy and legal affairs of its Center for Science and Culture (CSC), which serves as the main hub of the Intellig ...

of the Discovery Institute also had an article published in the November 2004 edition of ''

'' entitled "Unraveling The Threads of Darwinist Paranoia". A month later, Forrest and Gross wrote in ''

'', with a reply by Witt and West. Ian Musgrave contributed a letter to the editor in the February 2005 edition replying to West and Witt's reply.

Research for ''Kitzmiller v. Dover''

The research which Forrest in particular did led to her appearing as an

expert witness An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...

for the plaintiffs at the '' Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District'' intelligent design trial, in which intelligent design was ruled to be religious creationism and not

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

, and thus could not be taught as science in public school classrooms of

Dover, Pennsylvania Dover is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,954 at the 2020 census. The borough is located about eight miles from downtown York. History James Joner purchased in 1764 and laid out the town of Dover. It w ...

, because of the

Establishment clause In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The ''Establishment Clause'' an ...

of the

US Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constitut ...

. During the trial, pre-publication drafts of the textbook at the center of the controversy ''

Of Pandas and People ''Of Pandas and People: The Central Question of Biological Origins'' is a controversial 1989 (2nd edition 1993) school-level supplementary textbook written by Percival Davis and Dean H. Kenyon, edited by Charles Thaxton and published by the Te ...

'' were uncovered which revealed its creationist origins and how it had changed from using creationist terminology to using intelligent design terminology as a result of the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

decision in ''

Edwards v. Aguillard ''Edwards v. Aguillard'', 482 U.S. 578 (1987), was a United States Supreme Court case concerning the constitutionality of teaching creationism. The Court considered a Louisiana law requiring that where evolutionary science was taught in public s ...

''. This formed an important part of Forrest's testimony. A few days before Forrest's testimony, the Discovery Institute published its own "brief history of the scientific theory of intelligent design" by Jonathan Witt, in which he attempts to diminish the importance of ''Edwards v. Aguillard'', claiming instead that the origin of intelligent design was much older.The Origin of Intelligent Design: A brief history of the scientific theory of intelligent design
Jonathan Witt,

Editions

* Hardcover: 416 pages, Publisher: Oxford University Press, United States (2004) * Paperback: 416 pages, Publisher: Oxford University Press, United States (2007)

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

Book website
as retrieved by the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

on January 4, 2015.
Forrest & Gross book description

Oxford University Press
2004 non-fiction books Books by Paul R. Gross Criticism of intelligent design English-language non-fiction books Oxford University Press books