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Organizations

  • Answers in Genesis, a non-profit, fundamentalist, Creationist apologetics ministry with a particular focus on supporting young Earth creationism, rejecting the scientific consensus on the reality of common descent and on the age of the Earth.
  • TheBlaze, a conservative/libertarian news, and entertainment television network founded by Glenn Beck.
  • Discovery Institute, a non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, best known for its advocacy of the pseudoscience "intelligent design" (ID). Its "Teach the Controversy" campaign aims to teach creationist anti-evolution beliefs in United States public high school science courses alongside accepted scientific theories, positing a scientific controversy exists over these subjects
  • The Federalist, a web blog run by Heartland Institute operatives. Also publishes work by Discovery Institute writers
  • Heartland Institute, a non-profit American conservative and libertarian public policy think tank based in Chicago, which states that it advocates free market policies. In the 1990s, the group worked with the tobacco company Philip Morris to question serious cancer risks to secondhand smoke, and to lobby against government public-health reforms. More recently, the Institute has focused on questioning the science of human-caused climate change, and was described by the New York Times as "the primary American organization pushing climate change skepticism." The Institute has sponsored meetings of climate change skeptics, and has been reported to promote public school curricula challenging the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change. They receive funding from oil and gas companies.
  • National Review, a conservative magazine, described as "the bible of American conservatism".
  • Newsmax, a conservative American news media organization.

People

  • Bruce Chapman, Discovery Institute
  • Charles C. W. Cooke, writer at National Review
  • Ben Domenech of the Heartland Institute [1]
  • Sandy Fitzgerald, Newsmax
  • Rich Lowry, editor of National Review
  • Casey Luskin, Discovery Institute
  • Jay W. Richards of the Discovery Institute [2]
  • James M. Taylor of the Heartland Insititute [3]

Timeline of right-wing political and religious attacks on Neil deGrasse Tyson

Apr 3, 2012
  • Christian apologist Tom Gilson, formerly of Campus Crusade for Christ, criticizes a Tyson YouTube lecture about Islamic scholarship. Gilson calls Tyson an "anti-religious defender of science" who "undermines science". [4] The Discovery Institute later links to the article. [5]
May 13, 2013
  • Fox announces it will reboot Cosmos with Tyson as host. [6]
August 21, 2013
  • Adam Frank, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester, notes that over the last several decades in the U.S., the belief in creationism has risen while at the same time, the number of Americans who understand climate change has dropped. According to Frank, "climate deniers, taking pages from the creationists’ PR playbook, have manufactured doubt about fundamental issues in climate science that were decided scientifically decades ago." [7]
January 16, 2014
  • In The Federalist, Ben Domenech of the Heartland Institute [8] criticizes Tyson's understanding of the books he reads. [9]
March 10, 2014
  • Casey Luskin of the Discovery Institute critiques the premiere of the rebooted Cosmos series and attacks it for "Sagan's atheistic worldview". Luskin goes on to attack Tyson for his "materialistic agenda" and "anti-religious message" and for failing to give equal time to Intelligent Design. [10]
March 11, 2014
  • Answers in Genesis, a Young Earth creationism organization, responds to the first episode of Cosmos. The group questions the accuracy of the big bang model described by Tyson and the "unconditional blind faith in evolution" promoted by the show. [11] [12] [13]
March 12, 2014
  • Casey Luskin of the Discovery Institute calls Tyson an "atheist activist who is willing to rewrite history to suit his materialistic narrative, and intends to use Cosmos as a vehicle to promote the message". [14]
March 13, 2014
  • Hank Campbell criticizes the reboot of Cosmos in The Federalist and accuses it of attacking religious people. [15]
March 16, 2014
  • Jay W. Richards of the Discovery Institute criticizes Tyson and Cosmos on his Twitter feed over the course of 30 minutes. [16]
April 30, 2014
  • In The Federalist, Jay W. Richards of the Discovery Institute [17] attacks Tyson's representation of religion as seen on Cosmos. [18]
May 5, 2014
  • Jay W. Richards of the Discovery Institute criticizes "The Lost Worlds of Planet Earth", the ninth episode of Cosmos, and attacks Tyson's presentation of climate change science. Richards defends and promotes the use of coal, oil, and natural gas (see the Heartland Institute above) and calls Tyson's defense of renewable energy a "dangerous ideology". [19]
May 6, 2014
  • Casey Luskin of the Discovery Institute attacks "Tyson's agenda" of scientific materialism as seen on the ninth episode of Cosmos for failing to discuss and present Intelligent Design on equal terms with evolution. [20]
May 12, 2014
  • David Klinghoffer of the Discovery institute attacks Tyson and "The Electric Boy" episode of Cosmos. Klinghoffer claims 'Tyson has gone out of his way, indeed twisting the facts, to depict faith as an obstacle to science." [21]
June 3, 2014
  • Tyson is attacked by Gavin McInnes on Fox News' Red Eye in what has been described as a "race-based attack". Fox News host Greg Gutfeld also belittled Tyson's "astrophysicist" credentials. [22] [23]
June 29, 2014
  • In The Federalist, James M. Taylor of the Heartland Insititute [24] attacks Tyson's representation of climate change in Cosmos as "global warming alarmism". [25]
July 10, 2014
  • Casey Luskin of the Discovery Institute writes an article about what he calls the "mythical consensus on global warming alarmism". The article, titled "Nation’s Schools Targeted with Mythical Alarmist ‘Consensus’ Program", is published as a two -part series on the Heartland Institute website. [26] [27]
July 17, 2014
  • Casey Luskin of the Discovery Institute attacks Comsos and Tyson in an article for TheBlaze titled, "Materialism for the Masses: ‘Cosmos’ Reboot Distorts the History of Science". Luskin argues that Cosmos "shows what happens when celebrity atheists are given millions of dollars to promote their views on national television. The truth is sacrificed to their god—Science." [28]
July 21, 2014
  • Charles C. W. Cooke criticizes Tyson in a National Review cover story titled, "Smarter than Thou: Neil deGrasse Tyson and America’s nerd problem".
August 6, 2014
  • Jay W. Richards of the Discovery Institute criticizes "The World Set Free", the last episode of Cosmos. Richards takes aim at Tyson's defense of renewable energy and attacks climate change science. [29]
September 16, 2014
  • Bruce Chapman of the Discovery Institute, attacks Cosmos, Tyson, and links to The Federalist piece in article called "Scientist’s Unethical Quote Fabrication". Chapman calls Tyson "a political propagandist for a particular secular agenda, not an objective observer of science" who serves "a false and tendentious narrative". [30]
October 1, 2014
  • Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, writes a syndicated opinion piece called "The Cult of Neil deGrasse Tyson" summarizing the claims made by The Federalist. [31] Lowry's column runs in newspapers across the United States.
October 2, 2014
  • Sandy Fitzgerald writing for Newsmax, completes the circle and amplifies the echo chamber with "Editor Slams Scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson Over Bush Statements", a meta-story about Lowry's coverage of criticism made by The Federalist.