Although with the ruling in 2005 of the Kitzmiller vs Dover case, Intelligent Design has, as a contention, been destroyed, Discovery Institute carries on the fundamental strategy of their 'wedge' by bolstering various media content (such as books by their luminaries like Douglas Axe or Stephen Meyer, and their ironically named disinformation web site 'EvolutionNews') along with other efforts to undermine secular education and spread disinformation to the public about science matters. Most of this focuses on science areas known to be similarly challenged by Young Earth Creationist groups, namely Evolution, but also many aspects of general geology, biology, and so on, along with any notable figures in these fields. The intent of course is clear: Discovery Institute serves their religious donors to advance a specific religious aim, to discredit the scientific theory of Evolution advanced since 1858 that has since found worldwide support in all academia through excruciating levels of study and verification of facts underlying it, and to discredit any institutions or persons that may support it, using a poorly veiled claim of a scientific counterargument (via 'Intelligent Design'), which they have not and do not support with any intellectual zeal, as the 2005 court case showed and the entirety of their works continue to reveal. To anyone considering the services or products of Discovery Institute, or in making a donation to them, note that special care should be taken when reading any of their published works or content for propagandized readings of original sources, and outright false statements and/or misrepresentations of science. If it is information you seek about the study of Evolution or any physical sciences, the nearest State University's Biology or Science department is going to be the best start for a mind wanting to learn, and the coffers of actual education related charities a better place for any potential donations. Lastly, as a charity, Discovery Institute may well be keeping their accounting and rule following perfectly clean and have complete honesty in that, of which I have no doubt, however what is done and what they have done with any money they receive has been and will be a disservice to the city of Seattle, the State of Washington, and the people of the United States or those abroad who may be influenced by any of their efforts or produced works. read more

We recently viewed a YouTube video by Steven Meyer. He referenced a multi published and multi patent holding PhD and other PhDs who are increasingly being self-led to viewpoints about Neo-Darwinism that are not amenable to explaining Macro Evolution. "The Discovery Institute is a politically conservative non-profit think tank based in Seattle, Washington, that advocates the pseudoscientific concept of intelligent design. Its "Teach the Controversy" campaign aims to permit teaching of anti-evolution, intelligent-design beliefs in United States public high school science courses in place of accepted scientific theories, positing that a scientific controversy exists over these subjects." The Institute does not, suggest that ID[Intelligent Design] replace the teaching of Evolution but that the subject of 'Origins' and science is not stifled by competing theories, rather it is stifled by stifling competing 'science' theories. I believe that - paraphrased - 'Don't trust anyone over 13[7,8,9 10...] should become the 'mantra' of science, and that 'accepted scientific theories'[I am proud that the individual used 'theories' and not 'facts'] stifle scientific progress, and especially characterized as 'Facts' become 'adult' bullying. I hold a professional doctoral degree applied for 41 years. I am widely read in popular and unpopular science. I earned a Minor in Chemistry and an A in Biochemistry under 'strenuous' circumstances. read more

This is a great place for misinformation. Their rallying cry, "teach the controversy", sounds good but nearly everything they teach is so blatantly false that it is just silly. As a scientist I believe in intelligent design, but not in the cartoonish idiocy that is promoted by the Discovery Institute. The single worst educational experience I have ever had was my high school biology teacher, an early adopter of the Discovery Institute rhetoric, force-feeding her whole class inconsistent garbage. As a Master's student directly studying the Discovery Institute material she wasn't capable of keeping it straight, forget about making it credible. If you have more that two nerve cells to rub together please run away, these are folks pretending to be scientists and they give both science and faith a bad name, in the guise of teaching you to question they ask you to blindly believe their interpretation. Everything I have learned as a scientist has strengthened my belief that this world was templated, that it could not possibly have occurred at random - that is real, that is grounded in the observable and verifiable. That is completely unlike what DI does, teach you to ignore the verifiable and erase all logic and truth, leaving you with nothing but doctrine. For the love of all that is holy, please run away, no creator would want you to waste your intellect like that. read more

Perhaps the most dishonest institution in the country - should be called the Dishonesty Institute. Not only can't they do any original research, publish anything peer reviewed that specifically support their clams, or stop making baseless assertions they can't even propose an experiment or a way in which their ideas can be FALSIFIED. They can't even do that!!! Sitting around and crying and criticizing evolution and misrepresenting other scientists' work is NOT science. It's dishonest and border-line fraud. Evolution can be falsified. Special and General Relativity can be falsified. Atomic Theory can be falsified. Quantum Theory can be falsified. Germ Theory of Disease can be falsified. The Standard Model can be falsified. ALL the major Theories (ALL) of science can be falsified. But the IDers at the Dishonesty Institute are a very special group as they exempt themselves from what science is but desperately what to be considered science. There are not many groups in the U.S. that are more dishonest than the discovery Institute (Meyer, Axe, Luskin et al). read more

Any organization that is anti-secular is an organization that goes against the Establishment Clause (the separation between religion and government) which is in the United States Constitution. The Discovery Institute is an organization that is anti-secular and anti-Democracy. The Discovery Institute is in my opinion fraudulent. The fact that Intelligent Design is pseudoscience should never be taught in public schools as science. Evolution should be taught in public schools as science. Science and governments both need to be secular in able to respect the views of everyone religious, or non-religious. If organize religions find it necessary to inject their religion into my government then maybe they should lose their tax-exempt status and start paying my taxes. Let's all make a wise choice and keep superstition out of government and science. read more

Their six claimed points for intelligent design are not valid evidence; here are the scientific explanations that counter each one: 1) The Big Bang's origin can be explained by natural laws without requiring a personal designer. 2) Fine-tuning is expected because observers can only exist in a universe where conditions allow life. 3) Complex biological information can emerge naturally through chemical processes and natural selection. 4) Structures like the flagellum evolved through gradual modification and co-option of simpler systems. 5) The Cambrian explosion has known precursors and plausible evolutionary pathways supported by fossils. 6) Human evolution is well-documented through transitional fossils and shared genetics with other primates. read more

As stated earlier, this group is a religious organization that blatantly tries to ignore the laws of the constitution. This is definitely a religious right lobby, and it's terrifying to know these groups exist and people know about them. One campaign is "Teach the Controversy", which is imposed on students during their learning of evolution, rather than in a theory or philosophy class, where other viewpoints that go against science can be discussed. They also seem to believe, according to their press site, Ernst Haeckel had faked drawings of embryos, however one would do that... read more

This public relations firm is more a lobby for the religious right. They were found in federal court to have plans of deliberately stifling education by encroaching into the public schools with religious dogma. Their stated goal was to wedge religion into science. An ugly plan. Since being largely discredited, they continue to push for miseducation despite the federal court ruling that intelligent design and creationism are not science, but are religion. They apparently do not yield to constitutional law. read more