Jay W. Richards

Jay Wesley Richards is an American analytic philosopher and intelligent design and free market advocate. He serves as the Assistant Research Professor in the School of Business and Economics at the Catholic University of America and the executive editor of The Stream. He is a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute.

Jay Richards graduated from Southwestern University, where he received a B.A. with majors in political science and religion. He received a Master of Theology (Th.M.) degree from Calvin Theological Seminary and a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree from Union Theological Seminary. His Ph.D. (with honors) is in philosophy and theology from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Richards is a former faculty member at Biola University, where he taught apologetics. He worked for the Acton Institute before becoming Assistant Research Professor in the School of Business and Economics at the Catholic University of America and executive editor of The Stream.

Richards is the author of numerous scholarly and popular articles, as well as four books, including The Untamed God and The Privileged Planet. Richards has been known for his intelligent design advocacy since 1996. The Privileged Planet was co-authored with astronomer and fellow CSC Senior Fellow Guillermo Gonzalez.

Richards was a fellow at the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics and the Program Director of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture (CSC). He was the first fellow at the Discovery Institute to confirm the genuineness of the Wedge document. Science organizations then paid attention to the Institute after the document was published online, but Richards wrote "that the mission statement and goals had been posted on the CRSC's website since 1996." Richards has expressed skepticism of global warming.

In January 2008 at Stanford University Jay Richards had a debate with a leading atheist, Christopher Hitchens, on the topic: Atheism vs. Theism and The Scientific Evidence of Intelligent Design. It was moderated by Ben Stein. The debate led up to the release of Ben Stein's movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.