Jay Wesley Richards is an American analytical philosopher who focuses on the intersection of politics, philosophy, and religion. He is the William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow in Heritage’s DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation. He serves as an adjunct professor in the School of Business at the Catholic University of America and the executive editor of The Stream and senior fellow at the Discovery Institute. A former Presbyterian, Richards is now a Catholic.

Early life and education

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 Presbyterian Seminary. His Ph.D. is in philosophy and theology from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Career

Richards is author or editor of more than a dozen books, including the New York Times bestsellers Infiltrated (2013) and Indivisible (2012); The Human Advantage; Money, Greed, and God, winner of a 2010 Templeton Enterprise Award; The Hobbit Party with Jonathan Witt; and Eat, Fast, Feast. 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 climate change denial. 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. Richards taught an apologetics course at Biola University. He has worked for the Acton Institute and is the executive editor of The Stream.