Editing Theistic science (section)

==Johnson==
{{See also|Timeline of intelligent design}}
In 1987 the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] ruled in ''[[Edwards v. Aguillard]]'' that a Louisiana law requiring that [[creation science]] be taught in public school science classes, along with evolution, was unconstitutional because the law was specifically intended to advance a particular religion. Academic UC Berkeley law professor [[Phillip E. Johnson]], a prominent supporter of the law, became convinced that [[creationism|creationists]] had lost the case because the [[naturalism (philosophy)|methodological naturalism]] used by the [[scientific community]] in defining [[science]] does not include [[supernatural]] processes, and therefore (unfairly, in his opinion) excluded creationism. He concluded that creationists must therefore redefine science to restore the [[supernatural]], and developed the [[wedge strategy]].<ref name=BF07>[http://www.centerforinquiry.net/uploads/attachments/intelligent-design.pdf Understanding the Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals.] (pdf) A Position Paper from the Center for Inquiry, Office of Public Policy Barbara Forrest. May, 2007, Retrieved 2007-06-12.</ref> The [[intelligent design movement]] began with the publication of ''[[Of Pandas and People]]'' in 1989,<ref name=pandafounds>[http://ncseweb.org/creationism/analysis/critique-pandas-people ''Of Pandas and People'', the foundational work of the 'Intelligent Design' movement] by Nick Matzke 2004, Retrieved 2007-06-12.</ref> and Johnson later became its de facto leader.<ref name=BF07/>

In his 1995 book ''Reason in the Balance: The Case Against Naturalism in Science, Law and Education'', Johnson labelled his position ''theistic realism'' which, in contrast to [[methodological naturalism]], assumed "that the universe and all its creatures were brought into existence for a purpose by God. Theistic realists expect this 'fact' of creation to have empirical, observable consequences that are different from the consequences one would observe if the universe were the product of non rational causes". While "God always has the option of working through regular secondary mechanisms" which were often to be seen, "many important questions—including the origin of genetic information and human consciousness—may not be explicable in terms of unintelligent causes".<ref name="NCSE Wedge">{{cite web |first=Barbara |last=Forrest |author-link=Barbara Forrest | title=The Wedge at Work | website=NCSE | date=3 December 2008 | url=https://ncse.com/creationism/analysis/wedge-at-work#_edn130 | access-date=5 October 2017}}</ref>

In an essay written in 1996, Johnson wrote of the [[intelligent design movement]] that "My colleagues and I speak of 'theistic realism' — or sometimes, 'mere creation' — as the defining concept of our movement. This means that we affirm that God is objectively real as Creator, and that the reality of God is tangibly recorded in evidence accessible to science, particularly in biology."<ref name="ncse.wedge">{{Cite web  | title = What is &quot;Intelligent Design&quot; Creationism? | url = https://ncse.com/creationism/general/what-is-intelligent-design-creationism | publisher = National Center for Science Education | access-date = 30 September 2017 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.arn.org/docs/johnson/ratzsch.htm Starting a Conversation about Evolution], [[Phillip E. Johnson]], 1996, cited in Forrest&Gross(2004) p315</ref> Johnson presents theistic realism as a [[philosophical]] justification for [[intelligent design]] in his book, ''Reason in the Balance''. According to Johnson, true [[knowledge]] begins with the acknowledgment of [[God]] as creator of the [[universe]],  the unifying characteristic of which is that it was created by God. [[Theism|Theistic]] realism relies on a concept of God which involves the notions that He is real, personal, and acting in the world through mechanistic [[creationism]].{{page needed|date=January 2011}}

The Wedge Document of 1999 states "Design theory promises to reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist world view, and to replace it with a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions."<ref name="ncse.wedge" />