Harrisburg, Pa.
Leaders of the intelligent design movement said in a 1999 internal “strategy” document that they hoped to overthrow the “materialistic worldview” of modern science and replace it with beliefs “consonant with Christian and theistic convictions.” The document was placed into evidence last week, in the so-called “Scopes II” trial, pitting evolution against intelligent design. Eleven parents are suing the Dover school board for requiring that students be taught intelligent design, on the grounds that it is creationism in disguise, and thus violates the separation of church and state. Defense lawyers say that intelligent design is a nonreligious scientific theory that explains gaps in the Darwinian model of evolution. Officials at the Discovery Institute, which is promoting intelligent design, said the strategy document was written merely as a fund-raising tool.
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