John G. West

John G. West is a Senior Fellow at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute (DI), and Associate Director and Vice President for Public Policy and Legal Affairs of its Center for Science and Culture (CSC), which serves as the main hub of the Intelligent design movement.

Biography

West received an undergraduate degree in Communications (Editorial Journalism) from the University of Washington in 1986. From 1986-1989, he served as Managing Editor of Public Research, Syndicated, which distributed essays on public affairs to more than 700 daily and weekly newspapers. He received his Ph.D. in Government from The Claremont Graduate School in 1992, has taught political science and history courses at California State University, San Bernardino and Azusa Pacific University, and was an Associate Professor of Political Science at Seattle Pacific University (a private Christian university) where he chaired the Political Science and Geography department. [ [http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=18&isFellow=true Discovery Institute biography] ] [ [http://www.spu.edu/depts/polisci/west.htm Seattle Pacific University biography] ]

West has been co-director of the CSC since its formation in 1996, out of discussions between himself and Stephen C. Meyer, which lead to an invitation from DI president Bruce Chapman to create it as a unit within the DI. [Forrest and Gross(2004) p20] [Numbers(2006) pp381-383] At the 1995 DI-sponsored 'Death of Materialism' conference out of which it was born, he delivered an address entitled 'The Death of Materialism and the Renewal of Culture', which was an early an early articulation of the Wedge Strategy (later leaked in 1998 as what became known as the "Wedge Document", with an introduction identical to West's opening paragraphs). [Forrest and Gross(2004) pp30-32]

Darwin Day in America

In both his book "Darwin Day in America" and in lectures, [ [http://www.evolutionnews.org/2007/12/west_wins_in_minn.html West Wins In Minn.] , Bruce Chapman, Evolution News & Views, Discovery Institute] West presents his case for linking Darwin to the eugenics movement. Historian of Science Mark Borrello criticized West's argument in writing, "West means blaming biologists in general and Darwinian theory in particular for the coerced sterilization laws that passed many state legislatures in the first half of the 20th century. This will not do. Historians of science know that the passage of the first sterilization laws at the beginning of the 20th century occurred during the 'eclipse of Darwinism'." Borrello further states that this popular support for eugenics was matched with popular opposition to teaching evolution. [http://www.mnscience.org/index.php?id=138 Dancing with the Disco Institute] , Mark Borrello, assistant professor of the history of science, University of Minnesota. Minnesota Citizens for Science] Moreover, modern scientists, such as Stephen Jay Gould spoke out against eugenics. [ [http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/12/how_the_west_was_won_with_spin.php How the West was ‘Won’: with spin and rewriting history] , PZ Myers, Pharyngula] [ [http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library/gould_eugenics.html Carrie Buck's Daughter] , Stephen Jay Gould]

Bibliography

* "The Politics of Revelation and Reason: Religion and Civic Life in the New Nation (American Political Thought)" (1996)
* "Public life in the shadowlands: What C.S. Lewis can teach us about politics" (1998)
* "The C.S. Lewis Readers' Encyclopedia", (ed., with Jeffry D. West) (1998)
* "Encyclopedia of Religion in American Politics (American Political Landscape Series)", with Iain Maclean, and Jeffrey D. Schultz (1998)
* "The Theology of Welfare: Protestants, Catholics, & Jews in Conversation About Welfare, with Sonja E. West (2000)
* "Celebrating Middle-Earth: The Lord of the Rings As a Defense of Western Civilization" (2002)
* "Traipsing into Evolution: Intelligent Design and the Kitzmiller v. Dover Decision", with David K. Dewolf, Casey Luskin, and Jonathan Witt (2006)
* "Darwin's Conservatives: The Misguided Quest" (2006)
* "Darwin Day In America: How Our Politics and Culture Have Been Dehumanized in the Name of Science" (2007)

See also

*Discovery Institute
*Center for Science and Culture
*Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns

Notes

References

*cite book
last = Forrest
first = Barbara
authorlink = Barbara Forrest
coauthors = Paul R. Gross
title = Creationism's Trojan Horse
publisher = Oxford University Press
date = 2004
location =
pages = 416 pages
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 0195157427
*cite book
last = Numbers
first = Ronald
authorlink = Ronald Numbers
coauthors =
title = The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design, Expanded Edition
publisher = Harvard University Press
date=November 30, 2006
location =
pages = 624 pages
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 0674023390

External links

* [http://www.darwindayinamerica.com/ Darwin Day in America website]