AUTHOR: Allen MacNeill
SOURCE: Original essay
COMMENTARY: That's up to you...
On 22 December 2005, I posted a critical analysis of a press release on the Kitzmiller v. Dover decision, written by Dr. William Dembski, one of the founders of the "intelligent design" movement (Dr. Dembski's press release is apparently no longer available online). My analysis of Dembski's press release was hosted by Ed Brayton at his blog, Dispatches from the Culture Wars (you can find it here). In my analysis, I noted that Dr. Dembski had made a series of statements that were so divergent from the actual facts that they could be interpreted as symptoms of delusional thinking on the part of Dr. Dembski, if not deliberate falsehoods.
Here's the claim by Dr. Dembski that I would like to re-examine in this post:
Three years ago, there was one Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness (IDEA) Center at the University of California-San Diego. Now there are thirty such centers at American colleges and universities, including UC Berkeley and Cornell. These centers are fiercely pro-ID. [emphasis added]
Dr. Dembski strongly implied in his press release that these IDEA Centers were essentially research centers, such as those commonly found at college and university campuses.
Well, they aren't...or, rather, weren't. They weren't "research centers" or anything like it. They were clubs, similar to the kinds of student-centered special interest clubs that abound on most college and university campuses. Such clubs have several characteristics in common:
1) they are founded, supported, and run by students (sometimes with support from affiliated national organizations),
2) they often have to have permission from the administration to use classrooms or other facilities for meetings, and
3) they sometimes receive funding from students, derived from student activities fees.
To do these things, campus organizations typically have to show that they have no political or religious requirements or ties, as this could jeopardize the academic institution's not-for-profit educational status. This was a problem for IDEA Clubs, for several reasons:
1) they were usually founded, supported, and run by students who received encouragement and training to do so from the national IDEA Center, a spinoff of the Discovery Institute in Seattle, Washington, the political "nerve center" of the "intelligent design movement";
2) the IDEA Clubs often met in campus classrooms or other facilities; and
3) some IDEA clubs did in fact receive funding derived from student activities fees.
This was problematic for two simple reasons:
1) the Discovery Institute receives much of its funding from religious organizations, especially those supported by Christian "reconstructionist" Howard Ahmanson (that this is the case can be easily verified by reading the so-called "wedge document", formulated by the Discovery Institute as a fund-raising tool);
2) the IDEA Center required that the founders and officers of the IDEA Clubs they helped organize and support be Christians.
This was the case for the IDEA Club chapter founded at Cornell University, with whom I had several debates and public meetings. The requirement that the Cornell IDEA Club's officers be Christians was withheld from its membership by its founders until it was made public by their opponents. This caused dissension within the club and eventually led to the modification of this policy by the national IDEA Center administration.
And so, to the purpose for this post: it appears from all indications that the IDEA Club "movement" (and, by extension, the "intelligent design movement" as a whole) is dead. You can verify this by going to the website of the national IDEA Center and clicking through the various links located there. I did that this morning, and found it very enlightening. To save you time, here is what I found (the links are listed first, followed by what they lead to):
Upcoming Events: empty (no events listed)
Press Releases:: except for a press release on "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" (the movie) and the online publication of the Spring, 2008 Light Bulb Newsletter (see below), the most recent press release is dated 11/11/06
Classes & Seminars: last updated spring 2004
IDEA Conferences: none
ORIGINS News Updates: last updated 2005
The Light Bulb Newsletter: started publication online (.pdf format) in 2002; listed as quarterly, but only eight out of twenty-six issues have been posted; most recent issue (Summer 2008) consisted almost entirely of a review of the movie "Expelled" (see link, above)
Listserves & Discussion Boards: none
Events Archive: last updated 05/24/07, previously updated on 07/26/03
Student Training Conferences: (for students interested in forming an IDEA Club) last conference held on 09/27-28/02
Ah, but this only indicates that the national IDEA Center is now moribund. Surely something is happening in the 35 international chapters, located at high schools, community colleges, colleges, and universities around the world? Well, here's the list, followed by what you find when you click on the link:
Armstrong Atlantic State University (GA): last updated 01/09/06; virtually no content
Baraboo IDEA Club (academic affiliation not listed) (WI): 404:File Not Found
Braeside High School, Nairobi, Kenya: IDEA Center press release, dated 09/15/03; when link to actual site clicked, received 404:File Not Found
California State University, Sacramento (CA): no events, no content, last updated 11/14/02
Cornell University (NY): when link to actual site clicked, received 404:File Not Found; blog last updated on 03/11/07
Fork Union Military Academy (VA): IDEA Center press release, dated 08/14/04; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
Franciscan University of Steubenville (OH): IDEA Center press release, dated 03/12/04; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
George Mason University (VA): IDEA Center press release, dated 04/06/05; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
Hillsdale College (MI): IDEA Center press release, dated 09/20/03; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
James Madison University (VA): IDEA Center press release, dated 04/06/05; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
Midwestern State University (TX): IDEA Center press release, dated 04/13/04; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
Myers Park High School (NC): when link to actual site clicked, received 404:File Not Found
Poway High School (CA): no content or events listed (no date listed for last update)
Pulaski Academy (AR): IDEA Center press release, dated 09/15/03; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
Scripps Ranch High School (CA): IDEA Center main website homepage; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
Seattle Central Community College (WA): when link to actual site clicked, received 404:File Not Found
South Mecklenburg High School (NC): IDEA Center press release, dated 08/14/04; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
Stanford University (CA): IDEA Center main website homepage; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
Tri-Cities IDEA Club (WA): no events listed; last updated on 05/08/08
University of California, Berkeley (CA): 403:Access Forbidden
University of California, San Diego (CA): when link to actual site clicked, received 404:File Not Found
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (IL): IDEA Center press release, dated 04/06/05; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
University of Mississippi ("Ole' Miss") (MS): IDEA Center main website homepage; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
University of Missouri (MO): IDEA Center main website homepage; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
University of Nebraska, Lincoln (NE): when link to actual site clicked, received 404:File Not Found
University of Oklahoma (OK): when link to actual site clicked, received 404:File Not Found
University of the Phillipines: IDEA Center press release, dated 07/11/04; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
University of Texas, Dallas (TX): no events listed; last updated on 06/14/05
University of Victoria (BC): no events listed; last updated May, 1999
University of Virginia (VA): IDEA Center press release, dated 08/14/04; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
Vanderbilt University (TN): IDEA Center main website homepage; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
Wake Forest University (NC): IDEA Center press release, dated 04/06/05; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
Western Baptist College (OR): IDEA Center press release, dated 04/06/05; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
Westminster College (MO): IDEA Center press release, dated 04/06/05; no actual website or content linked or listed at associated institution
And there you have it: not one of the IDEA Clubs affiliated with an academic institution is still functioning. Indeed, only one of the clubs listed has even updated its website during the past year (the Tri-Cities IDEA Club).
UPDATE (01/04/09): The Tri-Cities IDEA Club website has now descended into "Under Construction/Placeholder" Hell, and so all of the current links to IDEA Clubs at the national IDEA Club website are currently non-functional.
Furthermore, a quick statistical analysis is also illuminating:
1) there are 39 IDEA Clubs listed, not 35 (as stated at the IDEA Club main website);
2) of the 39 listed IDEA Clubs, eight (21%) are located at high schools or community colleges;
3) four (17%) are located at religious institutions;
4) nine (23%) simply do not exist (i.e. have 404: File Not Found at their link); and
5) 18 (46%) have links that simply redirect to either a national IDEA Center press release or main website homepage.
These are the "intelligent design research centers" about which Dr. Dembski spoke so glowingly in his analysis of the effects of the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School Board decision.
What can one conclude from this analysis? I conclude five things:
1) that the national IDEA Club website is essentially what is known online as a "shell site" (that is, a place-holder with no real content);
2) that the "movement" represented by the IDEA Club organization peaked in late 2005 or early 2006 (around the time of the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial);
3) since then (i.e. since Judge Jones issued his now-famous decision) it has died almost everywhere;
4) the majority of the output of the "intelligent design movement" consisted of press releases (and produced no empirical science of any kind); and
5) my conclusion in my critical review of Dr. Dembski's analysis of the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School Board decision was essentially correct: he was (and probably still is) either delusional or a bald-faced liar.
So, why did I illustrate this post with a picture of a dodo? Because, like the "intelligent design" movement, the dodo was notorious for its stupidity and that fact that it is extinct.
UPDATE (09/01/09): All of the current links to IDEA Clubs at the national IDEA Club website are currently non-functional; if this keeps up, they may fossilize.
As always, comments, criticisms, and suggestions are warmly welcomed!
--Allen