Many people know about the infamous “wedge document,” a fund-raising document outlining the Discovery Institute’s action plan to conquer evolution in the public arena. Its somewhat Christian/deist goals, which were not (and are not) part of the DI’s public mission statement, made evolutionists cry “foul,” accusing the DI of promoting religion in the guise of science. William Dembski, a leading Intelligent Design proponent, has tried to distance himself and the ID movement from religious goals, and is no record as saying that
the wedge metaphor has outlived its usefulness. Indeed, with ID critics like Barbara Forrest and Paul Gross writing books like Evolution and the Wedge of Intelligent Design: The Trojan Horse Strategy, the wedge metaphor has even become a liability. To be sure, our critics will attempt to keep throwing the wedge metaphor (and especially the notorious wedge document) in our face. But the wedge needs to be seen as a propaedeutic — as an anticipation of and preparation for a positive, design-theoretic research program that invigorates science and renews culture
I have no problem with the wedge strategy, and find most of its goals and means laudable. However, Dembski, in a humorous but serious publication, is now suggesting what he calls The Vise Strategy: Squeezing the Truth Out of Darwinists (PDF).
The vise strategy consists in subjecting each of these types of Darwinists to a sustained line of questioning about the five key terms (nature, science, evolution, creation, design), questions that they have no choice but to answer — hence the ‘vise’ metaphor. The aim of this line of questioning is to make clear to those reading or listening to the Darwinists’ testimonies that their defense of evolution and opposition to ID are prejudicial, self-contradictory, ideologically driven, and above all insupportable on the basis of the underlying science.
Good reading.
