Creationism's Trojan Horse
{{short description|2004 book by Barbara Forrest and Paul R. Gross}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Creationism's Trojan Horse
| image = Book Forrest.JPG
| authors = Barbara Forrest
Paul R. Gross
| cover_artist =
| subject = Intelligent design movement
| publisher = Oxford University Press
| pub_date = 2004
| media_type = Print (hardcover and paperback)
| pages = 416
| isbn = 0-19-515742-7
| dewey = 231.7/652 21
| congress = BS659 .F67 2004
| oclc = 50913078
}}
Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design{{cite book | isbn=978-0-19-515742-0 | title=Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design | last1=Forrest | first1=Barbara | last2=Gross | first2=Paul R. | year=2007 }} is a 2004 book by Barbara Forrest and Paul R. Gross on the origins of intelligent design, specifically the Discovery Institute's Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture and its wedge strategy. The authors are highly critical of what they refer to as intelligent design creationism,[http://www.creationismstrojanhorse.com/Trojan_Horse_Intro.pdf Introduction to Creationism's Trojan Horse] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061006181628/http://www.creationismstrojanhorse.com/Trojan_Horse_Intro.pdf |date=2006-10-06 }} and document the intelligent design movement's fundamentalist Christian 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"[http://www.talkreason.org/articles/Wedge.cfm The Wedge at Work: How Intelligent Design Creationism Is Wedging Its Way into the Cultural and Academic Mainstream], Barbara Forrest which Forrest wrote for the book Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics{{Cite book|isbn = 0-262-66124-1|title = Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics: Philosophical, Theological, and Scientific Perspectives|last1 = Pennock|first1 = Robert T.|year = 2001|url-access = registration|url = https://archive.org/details/intelligentdesig00robe}} (2001) edited by Robert T. Pennock. It is published by Oxford University Press and has a foreword by Steven Weinberg.
Reviews
Michael Cavanaugh, President of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science 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."[http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2004/03/iras_president.html IRAS President reviews Creationism’s Trojan Horse] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061105092736/http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2004/03/iras_president.html |date=2006-11-05 }} Matt Brauer, The Panda's Thumb weblog, March 25, 2004 Karl Giberson, editor-in-chief of the Templeton Foundation's Science & Theology News chose it as the July's Editor's Choice and described it as a "remarkable analysis".[http://www.stnews.org/Books-758.htm ID movement assaulted in aggressive new polemic] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20150220092535/http://www.stnews.org/Books-758.htm |date=2015-02-20 }}, Karl Giberson, Science & Theology News, July 1, 2004. Allan H. Harvey reviewed the book for Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, the journal of the American Scientific Affiliation and criticized the authors' understanding of Christian theology, 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."[http://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/Book%20Reviews2005-/6-05.html Review of Forrest and Gross, Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design], Allan H. Harvey, June 2005 issue of Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, journal of the American Scientific Affiliation, (vol. 57, No. 2, p. 157).
There were also positive reviews in the scientific literature, by Steve Olson in Science,[http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/304/5672/825 Evolution and Creationism: Shapes of a Wedge], Steve Olson, Science 7 May 2004: 825-826 by Rudolf A. Raff in Evolution & Development,[https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-142X.2004.04036.x The creationist Hydra grows a new head—a review of Unintelligent Design by Mark Perakh and Creationism's Trojan Horse by Barbara Forrest and Paul R. Gross], Rudolf A. Raff, Evolution & Development 6:4, 289-291 (2004) by Barry Palevitz in BioScience[http://www.creationismstrojanhorse.com/PalevitzReview.pdf Review in BioScience] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061006181618/http://www.creationismstrojanhorse.com/PalevitzReview.pdf |date=2006-10-06 }} by Barry Palevitz and by Lawrence S. Lerner in Physics & Society.[http://www.creationismstrojanhorse.com/LernerAPSReviewJan2005.pdf Review in Physics & Society] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061006181408/http://www.creationismstrojanhorse.com/LernerAPSReviewJan2005.pdf |date=2006-10-06 }} by Lawrence S. Lerner
Chris Mooney reviewed the book for his CSICOP column and used it to compare ID creationism with young Earth creationism.[http://www.csicop.org/doubtandabout/id/ IDing ID: Is "Intelligent Design" theory really "Creation Science" version 2.0? Not exactly, but the parallels are certainly suggestive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061007035424/http://www.csicop.org/doubtandabout/id/ |date=2006-10-07 }}, Chris Mooney August 9, 2004 Biologist Bruce Grant described the authors as "heroes", saying their work was "the most thorough introduction to that enemy [intelligent design creationism]".[http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/04-06-01.html Intentional Deception: Intelligent Design Creationism] by Bruce Grant, June 1, 2004.
The book also had endorsements from Richard Dawkins, E.O. Wilson, Ursula Goodenough, Massimo Pigliucci, Eugenie C. Scott and Steven Pinker.
Response by the Discovery Institute
The main subject of the book, the Discovery Institute, 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 and said that it had "erroneous reasoning" and that "on every page of the book, there is a tone of paranoia."[http://www.epsociety.org/p%20517-519.pdf Review] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061008114922/http://www.epsociety.org/p%20517-519.pdf |date=2006-10-08 }} by Jonathan Witt of the Discovery Institute in Philosophia Christi
Witt and John G. West of the Discovery Institute also had an article published in the November 2004 edition of Science & Theology News entitled "Unraveling The Threads of Darwinist Paranoia".[http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=2753 Unraveling The Threads of Darwinist Paranoia], John G. West and Jonathan Witt, Discovery Institute, November 2004. A month later, Forrest and Gross wrote in Science & Theology News, with a reply by Witt and West.[http://www.stnews.org/Books-343.htm Intelligent design has distinctly evolutionary nature] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405181950/http://www.stnews.org/books-343.htm |date=2015-04-05 }}, Barbara Forrest and Paul R. Gross Science & Theology News, December 2004, with a reply When anti-ID vitriol prevails, scientific debate loses by John G. West and Jonathan Witt Ian Musgrave contributed a letter to the editor in the February 2005 edition replying to West and Witt's reply.[http://www.stnews.org/Commentary-42.htm ID lacks creditable scholarship] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20150220092609/http://www.stnews.org/Commentary-42.htm |date=2015-02-20 }}, Ian Musgrave, letter to Science & Theology News
Research for ''Kitzmiller v. Dover''
The research which Forrest in particular did led to her appearing as an expert witness for the plaintiffs at the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District intelligent design trial,[http://www.creationismstrojanhorse.com/FORREST_EXPERT_REPORT.pdf Expert Witness Report] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081028220124/http://www.creationismstrojanhorse.com/FORREST_EXPERT_REPORT.pdf |date=2008-10-28 }} for Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, Barbara Forrest[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/dover/day6am.html Testimony] of Barbara Forrest, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District in which intelligent design was ruled to be religious creationism and not science, and thus could not be taught as science in public school classrooms of Dover, Pennsylvania, because of the Establishment clause of the US Constitution.[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/dover/kitzmiller_v_dover_decision.html Kitzmiller v. Dover decision]
During the trial, pre-publication drafts of the textbook at the center of the controversy Of Pandas and People 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 decision in Edwards v. Aguillard. This formed an important part of Forrest's testimony.[http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2005/10/i_guess_id_real.html I guess ID really was “Creationism’s Trojan Horse” after all] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624124225/http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2005/10/i_guess_id_real.html |date=2008-06-24 }}, Nick Matzke, October 13, 2005, The Panda's Thumb
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.[http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/filesDB-download.php?command=download&id=526 The Origin of Intelligent Design: A brief history of the scientific theory of intelligent design], Jonathan Witt, Discovery Institute
Editions
- Hardcover: 416 pages, Publisher: Oxford University Press, United States (2004) {{ISBN|978-0-19-515742-0}}
- Paperback: 416 pages, Publisher: Oxford University Press, United States (2007) {{ISBN|978-0-19-531973-6}}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150104032744/http://www.creationismstrojanhorse.com/ Book website], as retrieved by the Wayback Machine on January 4, 2015.
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20061210221113/http://www2.selu.edu/Academics/ArtsSciences/CAS_Endowed%20Chairs/doc/ForrestGrossBookDescription.pdf Forrest & Gross book description]
- [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/creationisms-trojan-horse-9780195157420?q=trojan%20horse&lang=en&cc=us Oxford University Press]
Category:2004 non-fiction books
Category:Books by Paul R. Gross
Category:Criticism of intelligent design