"A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism" (or
"Dissent from Darwinism") was a statement issued in 2001 by the
Discovery Institute, a conservative
think tank based in
Seattle, Washington, U.S. ... the statement expresses skepticism about the ability of
random mutations and
natural selection to account for the complexity of life, and encourages careful examination of the evidence for "
Darwinism", a term intelligent design proponents use to refer to
evolution.
[1]
The statement was published in advertisements under an introduction which stated that its signatories dispute the assertion that
Darwin's theory of evolution fully explains the complexity of living things, and dispute that "all known scientific evidence supports [Darwinian] evolution".
[2][3] The Discovery Institute states that the list was first started to refute claims made by promoters of
the PBS television series "Evolution" that "virtually every scientist in the world believes the theory to be true".
[4] Further names of signatories have been added at intervals.
[5][6] The list continues to be used in
Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns in an attempt to discredit evolution and bolster claims that intelligent design is scientifically valid by claiming that evolution lacks broad
scientific support.
Responses
After more than a decade of effort
the Discovery Institute proudly announced in 2007 that it had got some 700 doctoral-level scientists and engineers to sign "A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism." Though the number may strike some observers as rather large, it represented less than 0.023 percent of the world's scientists. On the scientific front of the much ballyhooed "Evolution Wars", the Darwinists were winning handily. The ideological struggle between (methodological) naturalism and supernaturalism continued largely in the fantasies of the faithful and the hyperbole of the press.
[38]
Expertise relevance
The listed affiliations and areas of expertise of the signatories have also been criticized,
[1][12] with many signatories coming from wholly unrelated fields of academia, such as aviation and engineering, computer science and meteorology.
[39]
In addition, the list was signed by only about 0.01% of scientists in the relevant fields. According to the
National Science Foundation, there were approximately 955,300 biological scientists in the United States in 1999.
[40] Only about 1/4 of the approximately 700 Darwin Dissenters in 2007 are biologists, according to Kenneth Chang of
The New York Times.
[12] Approximately 40% of the Darwin Dissenters are not identified as residing in the United States, so in 2007, there were about 105 US biologists among the Darwin Dissenters, representing about 0.01% of the total number of US biologists that existed in 1999.
Counter-petitions
Responding in the form of a humorous parody, the
National Center for Science Education launched
Project Steve, a list of scientists named "Steve", or its equivalent (such as "Stephanie" or "Esteban"), who had signed a pro-evolution statement.
[54] As of 17 March 2017, the Steve-o-meter registered 1,412 Steves.
[55]
After the Discovery Institute presented the petition as part of an
amicus curiae brief in the
Kitzmiller v. Dover intelligent design court case in October 2005, a counter-petition,
A Scientific Support For Darwinism, was organized and gathered 7,733 signatures from scientists in four days.
[57]
As of 6 July 2015, the
Clergy Letter Project[58] has collected signatures of 13,008 American Christian clergy who "believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist." Over 500 Jewish clergy have signed a similar "Rabbi Letter".
[59][60] The Clergy Letter Project has also circulated an "Imam Letter" affirming that "the timeless truths of the
Qur'an may comfortably coexist with the discoveries of modern science."
[61]
What part of my comment is untrue and how is it untrue. If I made a mistake I would like to know so I can correct it.