In a declaration in federal court in 2021, Quentin Van Meter, the president of the American College of Pediatricians, described the organization as a “secular, scientific medical association,” whose “views are not religious as such.”
In 2021, ACPeds solicited a proposal from a direct-mail fundraising agency on how to boost its fundraising efforts and where to spend the windfall. The agency recommended that ACPeds target “30,000 prospective conservative donors,” whose gifts, it said, would in turn be spent to “target conservative professionals in the medical community.
Despite its homages to science, the views of ACPeds and its board are deeply rooted in a morality based exclusively in evangelical religious beliefs. Notes taken at board meetings, which open and close with prayer, show that its directors view consensus science, people who hold advanced degrees, and even the law itself as a threat to its agenda.
The atmosphere at ACPeds’ closed-door meetings, dozens of which are meticulously documented, contrasts sharply with the image it aims to project publicly. Conversations over exactly how religious the group can present itself publicly have rolled from one year to the next. During meetings in 2014 and 2015, members discussed the potential benefits of declaring their “recognition of God versus standing purely as a scientific organization.