Bill Dembski

Introduction
How loyal a disciple of Charles Darwin’s are you, really? Take this test and find out. Higher scores indicate increasing loyalty to Darwin and his ideas. At the extreme, loyalty to Darwin becomes unreflective, dogmatic, and immune to countervailing evidence. In other words, it becomes a form of Darwinian fundamentalism. Hence the name of this test, the Darwinian Fundamentalism Index (DFI).

Significance
Clinical psychologists and psychiatrists are coming to regard fundamentalism, whether religious or secular, as harmful to society and as a form of mental disturbance. In fact, “fundamentalist personality disorder” is increasingly being mooted for inclusion in the upcoming edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM VI). At the same time, Darwinian fundamentalism is enormously influential in American culture and goes unchallenged in American biology classrooms, where it has become textbook orthodoxy. [Read more…] about Darwinian Fundamentalism Index

THE POLITICAL CORRECTNESS INVENTORY (PCI)

How politically correct (PC) are you? The Political Correctness Inventory (PCI) will help you to answer that question. On it, you will find pairs of statements representing the politically correct and politically incorrect position on a broad range of contemporary issues, all the way from sex and education to politics and science.

What does it mean to be PC? It means to adhere to the belief system shared by the most intelligent, influential, and attractive people in America today. By taking this test, you will find out how closely your own thinking matches that of the smartest opinion-makers in our nation’s universities and the most captivating taste-makers in Hollywood and the media. [Read more…] about Political Correctness Inventory

Introduction
Fundamentalism denotes a belief system that draws sharp boundaries between who’s right, who’s wrong, who’s in, and who’s out. The term “fundamentalism” arose in the early 20th century in an attempt to identify the core doctrines of the Christian faith (“the Fundamentals”). It has since come to designate a narrow conception of religious faith that has difficulty distinguishing essentials from non-essentials and leaves little room for ambiguity, doubt, paradox, or mystery.

Significance
The psychology and neuroscience community is coming to regard religious fundamentalism as harmful to society and as a form of mental disturbance (cf. Kathleen Taylor’s widely reported criticism of fundamentalism). At the same time, fundamentalism is enormously influential in American culture and poses a challenge to American educators (cf. the Gallup poll showing that roughly half of all Americans think God created humans as is in the last 10,000 years). [Read more…] about Fundamentalist Belief Inventory