The Wedge Document
Circa 1991, Phillip E. Johnson and a handful of others formulated the Wedge Strategy, out of which later came the Wedge Document. The Wedge Document outlines a marketing plan to accomplish "the overthrow of materialism and its cultural legacies." ID serves as "the thin edge of the wedge," which begins with ID in evolution and expands to other areas of science, psychology, ethics, politics, theology, philosophy, and the fine arts:
... in order to defeat materialism, we must cut it off at its source. That source is scientific materialism. This is precisely our strategy. If we view the predominant materialistic science as a giant tree, our strategy is intended to function as a "wedge" that, while relatively small, can split the trunk when applied at its weakest points. ... building on this momentum, broadening the wedge with a positive scientific alternative to materialistic scientific theories, which has come to be called the theory of intelligent design (ID). Design theory promises to reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist worldview, and to replace it with a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions.
In the ensuing 20 years, the goals of the Wedge Strategy were:
- To see intelligent design theory as the dominant perspective in science.
- To see design theory application in specific fields, including molecular biology, biochemistry, paleontology, physics and cosmology in the natural sciences, psychology, ethics, politics, theology and philosophy in the humanities; to see its innuence in the fine arts.
- To see design theory permeate our religious, cultural, moral and political life.
Philip E. Johnson, the Wedge Document author (and affiliate of the Discovery Institute and the Access Research Network), wrote a progress report on the Wedge Strategy in 2001. One excerpt notes the need to resolve the conflict between young-Earth and old-Earth creationists and another the reiteration of the intent to apply ID to areas beyond evolution:
... two related goals. ... The second was to make the critique of naturalism the central focus of discussion in the religious world, replacing the deadlocked debate over the Genesis chronology which had enabled the Darwinists to employ the "Inherit the Wind stereotype" so effectively. ...
The importance of this intellectual movement is by no means limited to science. Scientific naturalism has done its greatest damage in the arts and humanities.
"Materialism" and "naturalism"
Materialism
In the context of ID and also the Wedge Strategy, materialism is not about commercial goods or wealth.
In the context of ID and the Wedge Strategy, materialism is:
- From Southern Utah University: The doctrine that the only reality is matter; that the universe is not governed by intelligence or purpose but only by mechanical cause and effect; or
- From University College Dublin: Everything in nature, including the human mind consists of matter and obeys laws of physics. Hence, there are no supernatural entities.
From apologetics.org: Contrasted with "supernaturalism," naturalists insist that the universe is a "closed system," i.e. there is no God who intervenes in the universe and in human affairs. . Naturalists presuppose "evolution," and believe that science is the only way to come to an understanding of truth.
According to a 2000 Harris Poll, 94% of Americans believe in God and 86% believe in the resurrection of Christ. Nevertheless, the Wedge Document adherents allege that America is in the thrall to the "stifling dominance of the materialist worldview" and it must be "overthrown."