Editing Intelligent design movement (section)

=== The wedge strategy ===
{{main|Wedge strategy}}
The wedge strategy was formulated by Phillip E. Johnson to combat the "evil" of [[Naturalism (philosophy)#Methodological naturalism|methodological naturalism]].<ref>[[#Numbers 2006|Numbers 2006]], p. 377</ref> It first came to the general public's attention when a Discovery Institute internal memo now known as the "[[Wedge strategy|Wedge Document]]" (believed to have been written in 1998) was leaked to the public in 1999. However it is believed to have been an update of an earlier document to be implemented between 1996 and 2001.<ref>[[#Forrest & Gross 2004|Forrest & Gross 2004]], pp. 25–29</ref>

The document begins with "The proposition that human beings are created in the image of God is one of the bedrock principles on which Western civilization was built." and then goes on to outline the movement's goal to exploit perceived discrepancies within evolutionary theory in order to discredit evolution and scientific materialism in general. Much of the strategy is directed toward the broader public, as opposed to the professional scientific community. The stated "governing goals" of the CSC's wedge strategy are:
:1. To defeat scientific materialism and its destructive moral, cultural and political legacies
:2. To replace materialistic explanations with the theistic understanding that nature and human beings are created by God

Critics of intelligent design movement argue that the Wedge Document and strategy demonstrate that the intelligent design movement is motivated purely by religion and political ideology and that the Discovery Institute as a matter of policy obfuscates its agenda. The Discovery Institute's official response was to characterize the criticism and concern as "irrelevant," "paranoid," and "near-panic" while portraying the Wedge Document as a "fund-raising document."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.discovery.org/f/349 |title=The 'Wedge Document': 'So What?' |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |year=2003 |publisher=Discovery Institute |location=Seattle, WA |format=PDF |access-date=2014-05-30}}</ref>

Johnson in his 1997 book ''Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds'' confirmed some of the concerns voiced by the movement's gainsayers:
{{quotation|If we understand our own times, we will know that we should affirm the reality of God by challenging the domination of materialism and naturalism in the world of the mind. With the assistance of many friends I have developed a strategy for doing this,...We call our strategy the "wedge."<ref>[[#Johnson 1997|Johnson 1997]], pp. 91–92</ref>}}