Editing Center for Science and Culture (section)

==History==
In 1987, the US Supreme Court ruled in ''[[Edwards v. Aguillard]]'' against [[creation science]] being taught in United States public school science classes. In reaction, the term ''intelligent design'' was coined as a substitute in drafts of the textbook ''[[Of Pandas and People]]'', which was published in 1989, beginning the campaigning of the intelligent design movement under the leadership of ''Pandas'' editor [[Charles Thaxton]].<ref name="DarkSyde">{{cite interview |last=Forrest |first=Barbara C. |interviewer=Andrew Stephen |title=Know Your Creationists: Know Your Allies |url=https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2006/03/11/193288/-Know-Your-Creationists-Know-Your-Allies |work=[[Daily Kos]] |publisher=Kos Media, LLC |location=Berkeley, CA |date=March 11, 2006 |oclc=59226519 |access-date=2014-05-16}}</ref> The ''Edwards v. Aguillard'' ruling also inspired Phillip E. Johnson to begin anti-evolution campaigning. He met Stephen C. Meyer, and through him was introduced to others who were developing what became the Wedge strategy, including [[Michael Denton]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ratzsch |first=Del |date=January 2005 |title=How Not to Critique Intelligent Design Theory |url=https://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/filesDB-download.php?command=download&id=1177 |format=PDF |journal=[[Ars Disputandi]] |type=Book review of ''God, The Devil, and Darwin'' by [[Niall Shanks]] |location=Utrecht, Netherlands |publisher=Igitur Publishing |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=52–69 |access-date=2014-05-16|doi=10.1080/15665399.2005.10819864 |doi-access=free }}</ref> [[Michael Behe]] and [[William A. Dembski]], with Johnson becoming the de facto leader of the group. By 1995, Johnson was opposing the [[naturalism (philosophy)#Methodological naturalism|methodological naturalism]] of [[science]] in which "The Creator belongs to the realm of religion, not scientific investigation", and promoting "[[theistic science#Johnson|theistic realism]]" which "assumes that the universe and all its creatures were brought into existence for a purpose by God" and expects "this 'fact' of creation to have empirical, observable consequences."<ref name="waw">{{cite book |last=Forrest |first=Barbara |editor-last=Pennock |editor-first=Robert T |editor-link=Robert T. Pennock |year=2001 |chapter=The Wedge at Work: How Intelligent Design Creationism Is Wedging Its Way into the Cultural and Academic Mainstream |chapter-url=https://infidels.org/library/modern/barbara_forrest/wedge.html |title=Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics: Philosophical, Theological, and Scientific Perspectives |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |isbn=0-262-66124-1 |lccn=2001031276 |oclc=46729201 |ref=Forrest 2001 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/intelligentdesig00robe }}</ref>

In December 1993, [[Bruce Chapman]], president and founder of the Discovery Institute, noticed an essay in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' by Meyer about a dispute when biology lecturer [[Dean H. Kenyon]] taught intelligent design creationism in introductory classes.<ref name="wilgoren">{{cite news |last=Wilgoren |first=Jodi |date=August 21, 2005 |title=Politicized Scholars Put Evolution on the Defensive |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/national/21evolve.html?pagewanted=all |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2014-05-06 |ref=Wilgoren 2005}}</ref><ref name="Meyer_Insight">{{cite journal |last=Meyer |first=Stephen C. |author-link=Stephen C. Meyer |date=February 21, 1994 |title=Open Debate on Life's Origins |url=https://www.discovery.org/a/94/ |journal=[[Insight on the News]] |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=[[News World Communications]] |access-date=2014-05-16}}</ref> Kenyon had co-authored ''Of Pandas and People'', and in 1993 Meyer had contributed to the teacher's notes for the second edition of ''Pandas''. Meyer was an old friend of Discovery Institute co-founder [[George Gilder]], and over dinner about a year later they formed the idea of a think tank opposed to [[materialism]]. In mid-1995, Chapman and Meyer met a representative of [[Howard Ahmanson, Jr.]] Meyer, who had previously tutored Ahmanson's son in science, recalls being asked "What could you do if you had some financial backing?"<ref name="wilgoren"/>

The '''Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture''', as it was originally named, grew out of a conference called "The Death of Materialism and the Renewal of Culture" that the Discovery Institute organised in mid-1995. It was founded in 1996 by the Discovery Institute with funding provided by Fieldstead & Company, the Stewardship Foundation, Howard Ahmanson, Jr. and the Maclellan Foundation.<ref name="waw"/><ref name="wilgoren"/><ref>{{cite press release |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Major grants help establish Center for Renewal of Science and Culture |url=http://www.discovery.org/center.html |location=Seattle, WA |publisher=Discovery Institute |date=August 10, 1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961103063611/http://www.discovery.org/center.html |archive-date=1996-11-03 |access-date=2014-05-18}}</ref> The evolution of the center's name in 2002 reflects its attempt to present itself as less religiously motivated in the public's eye.<ref name="acadme">{{cite journal |last1=Forrest |first1=Barbara |last2=Branch |first2=Glenn |author-link2=Glenn Branch |date=January–February 2005 |title=Wedging Creationism into the Academy |url=http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2005/JF/Feat/forr.htm |journal=Academe |volume=91 |issue=1 |pages=36–41 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=[[American Association of University Professors]] |access-date=2007-08-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070729032153/http://aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2005/JF/Feat/forr.htm |archive-date=2007-07-29 |doi=10.2307/40252735 |jstor=40252735 |s2cid=141766477 |url-access=subscription }}also [http://astro.berkeley.edu/~kalas/ethics/documents/intelligent_design/AAUP_WedgingCreationism.pdf PDF]</ref> The evolving banners on the CRSC/CSC's website pictorially parallel these verbal efforts to disassociate the site from its overtly religious origins.<ref name=banners>{{cite web |url=https://ncse.com/creationism/general/evolving-banners-at-discovery-institute |title=Evolving Banners at the Discovery Institute |date=August 28, 2002 |website=National Center for Science Education |location=Berkeley, CA |type=Blog |access-date=2018-10-18 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929041353/https://ncse.com/creationism/general/evolving-banners-at-discovery-institute |archive-date=2018-09-29}}</ref> The "renewal" in its name referred to its stated goal of "renewing" American culture by grounding society's major institutions, especially education, in religion as outlined in the [[Wedge strategy#Wedge Document|Wedge Document]].