Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Smithsonian Protest Letters: DI's Track Record
Some readers are sharing the protest letters they've sent to the Smithsonian with Red State Rabble, and we're sharing them with you...
I am writing to protest your co-hosting this event. The Discovery Institute, the home of so-called "intelligent design"creationism, is behind this movie, "The Privileged Planet." Your PR staff may not have detected a religious theme to it; however, it is based on the idea that the earth was created in just such a way that human beings could live here. That is decidedly a religious idea, namely, the anthropic principle.
I don't believe your staff knew what it was okaying. The Discovery Institute is now crowing about the SI "coming around" to intelligent design, implying not only co-sponsorship due to their $16,000 donation, but also acceptance of the ideas in that film.
A few years ago, the Yale Campus Crusade, under the name of the Rivendell Institute, sponsored a visit by the "godfather of ID," Phillip Johnson. The Discovery Institute trumpeted their "Yale Conference" far and wide, implying Yale had sponsored the event, when the university had decidedly not.
The "Wedge Strategy" of the Discovery Institute (Google it and read) is to garner credibility for intelligent design creationism by drawing reputable scientists and institutions into involvements with the Discovery Institute. They have no science, no research, no nothing without the cooperation of unwitting participants and sponsors of their supposedly non-religious events.
I will lose a great deal of respect for the Smithsonian, one of our country's greatest and most reputable institutions, if it does not return the $16,000 to the Discovery Institute and cancel this religious sneak invasion. It is being used as PR which can only hurt the SI, and it should be stopped ... NOW.
Sincerely,Liz Craig
Kansas Citizens For Science
www.kcfs.org
I am writing to protest your co-hosting this event. The Discovery Institute, the home of so-called "intelligent design"creationism, is behind this movie, "The Privileged Planet." Your PR staff may not have detected a religious theme to it; however, it is based on the idea that the earth was created in just such a way that human beings could live here. That is decidedly a religious idea, namely, the anthropic principle.
I don't believe your staff knew what it was okaying. The Discovery Institute is now crowing about the SI "coming around" to intelligent design, implying not only co-sponsorship due to their $16,000 donation, but also acceptance of the ideas in that film.
A few years ago, the Yale Campus Crusade, under the name of the Rivendell Institute, sponsored a visit by the "godfather of ID," Phillip Johnson. The Discovery Institute trumpeted their "Yale Conference" far and wide, implying Yale had sponsored the event, when the university had decidedly not.
The "Wedge Strategy" of the Discovery Institute (Google it and read) is to garner credibility for intelligent design creationism by drawing reputable scientists and institutions into involvements with the Discovery Institute. They have no science, no research, no nothing without the cooperation of unwitting participants and sponsors of their supposedly non-religious events.
I will lose a great deal of respect for the Smithsonian, one of our country's greatest and most reputable institutions, if it does not return the $16,000 to the Discovery Institute and cancel this religious sneak invasion. It is being used as PR which can only hurt the SI, and it should be stopped ... NOW.
Sincerely,Liz Craig
Kansas Citizens For Science
www.kcfs.org
