Phillip E. Johnson Quotes (11 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

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Wedge strategy

Phillip E. Johnson

Phillip E. Johnson: 11 quotes 1 like

Famous Phillip E. Johnson Quotes

“I also don’t think that there is really a theory of intelligent design at the present time to propose as a comparable alternative to the Darwinian theory, which is, whatever errors it might contain, a fully worked out scheme. There is no intelligent design theory that’s comparable. Working out a positive theory is the job of the scientific people that we have affiliated with the movement. Some of them are quite convinced that it’s doable, but that’s for them to prove…No product is ready for competition in the educational world.”

Phillip E. Johnson

Berkley Science Review (Spring 2006), 2008-11-23 http://sciencereview.berkeley.edu/articles.php?issue=10&article=evolution,
2000s

“This [origins debate] isn't really, and never has been, a debate about science, it's about religion and philosophy.”

Phillip E. Johnson

World Magazine, 30 November 1996
1990s

“The objective is to convince people that Darwinism is inherently atheistic, thus shifting the debate from creationism vs. evolution to the existence of God vs. the non-existence of God. From there people are introduced to 'the truth' of the Bible and then 'the question of sin' and finally 'introduced to Jesus.”

Phillip E. Johnson Wedge strategy

This is from a summary of Johnsons ideas on the "Wedge strategy" which appeared in "Missionary Man" by Rob Boston in Church and State Magazine (April 1999) http://web.archive.org/web/20010508032051/http://www.au.org/churchstate/cs4995.htm, and not a direct quote. See also "Bad Philip Johnson Quote" at Panda's Thumb http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2006/02/post-4.html
Misattributed

“The Intelligent Design movement starts with the recognition that "In the beginning was the Word," and "In the beginning God created." Establishing that point isn't enough, but it is absolutely essential to the rest of the gospel message.”

Phillip E. Johnson

Foreword to Creation, Evolution, & Modern Science (2000)
1990s

“We're not trying to prove the character of God through science. That's a bad idea. What I'm trying to do is clear away the misunderstandings, the debris that prevent people from accepting that God who wants to accept them.”

Phillip E. Johnson

Hank Hanegraaf's "Bible Answer Man" radio program (19 December 2001)
2000s

“The subject is not just the theory of evolution, the subject is the reality of God.”

Phillip E. Johnson

Hank Hanegraaf's "Bible Answer Man" radio program (19 December 2001)
2000s

“So the question is: "How to win?" That's when I began to develop what you now see full-fledged in the "wedge" strategy: "Stick with the most important thing" — the mechanism and the building up of information. Get the Bible and the Book of Genesis out of the debate because you do not want to raise the so-called Bible-science dichotomy. Phrase the argument in such a way that you can get it heard in the secular academy and in a way that tends to unify the religious dissenters. That means concentrating on, "Do you need a Creator to do the creating, or can nature do it on its own?" and refusing to get sidetracked onto other issues, which people are always trying to do.”

Phillip E. Johnson

Touchstone Magazine interview (June 2002)
2000s

Phillip E. Johnson Quotes about God

“Scientists have long known that Darwinism is false. They have adhered to the myth out of self-interest and a zealous desire to put down God.”

Phillip E. Johnson

Interview with Claire Cooper, Legal Affairs Writer, published in "Berkeley Law Professor Finds Darwin Wanting: Author Calls Evolution 'Imaginative Story' ", Sacramento Bee, 3 June 1991, p. B5
1990s