Politics
Wednesday February 22, 2006
See today's LifeSiteNews stories
Over 500 PhD Scientists Proclaim Their Doubts About Darwin's Theory
SEATTLE, February 22, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Over 500 doctoral scientists have now signed a statement publicly expressing their skepticism about the contemporary theory of Darwinian evolution.
The statement reads: "We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged."
The list of 514 signatories includes member scientists from the prestigious US and Russian National Academy of Sciences. Signers include 154 biologists, the largest single scientific discipline represented on the list, as well as 76 chemists and 63 physicists. Signers hold doctorates in biological sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, computer science, and related disciplines. Many are professors or researchers at major universities and research institutions such as MIT, The Smithsonian, Cambridge University, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, the Ohio State University, the University of Georgia, and the University of Washington.
Discovery Institute first published its Scientific Dissent From Darwinism list in 2001 to challenge false statements about Darwinian evolution made in promoting PBS's "Evolution" series. At the time it was claimed that "virtually every scientist in the world believes the theory to be true."
"Darwinists continue to claim that no serious scientists doubt the theory and yet here are 500 scientists who are willing to make public their skepticism about the theory," said Dr. John G. West, associate director of Discovery Institute's Center for Science & Culture. "Darwinist efforts to use the courts, the media and academic tenure committees to suppress dissent and stifle discussion are in fact fueling even more dissent and inspiring more scientists to ask to be added to the list."
According to West, it was the fast growing number of scientific dissenters which encouraged the Institute to launch a website -- http://www.dissentfromdarwin.org -- to give the list a permanent home. The website is the Institute's response to the demand for information and access to the list both by the public, and by scientists who want to add their name to list.
"Darwin's theory of evolution is the great white elephant of contemporary thought," said Dr. David Berlinski, one of the original signers, a mathematician and philosopher of science with Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture (CSC). "It is large, almost completely useless, and the object of superstitious awe."
Other prominent signatories include U.S. National Academy of Sciences member Philip Skell; American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow Lyle Jensen; evolutionary biologist and textbook author Stanley Salthe; Smithsonian Institution evolutionary biologist and a researcher at the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Biotechnology Information Richard von Sternberg; Editor of Rivista di Biologia / Biology Forum --the oldest still published biology journal in the world-- Giuseppe Sermonti; and Russian Academy of Natural Sciences embryologist Lev Beloussov.
See the full list here:
http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/filesDB-download.php...
Back to TopSHARE THIS STORY: E-mail Print Newsvine Digg Reddit Del.icio.us Facebook
Latest Headlines
- Toronto Archbishop Decries Morgentaler Order of Canada - Sets Sunday as Day of Prayer Against Abortion
- Shock: Connecticut Supreme Court Strikes Down State Ban on Same-sex "Marriage"
- Boycott Successful: McDonald's Abandons Homosexual Activism
- Victoria, Australia Decriminalises Abortion: Criminalises Doctors' Consciences
- Pro-life Efforts Redouble as U.K. Embryo Bill Goes Back to House of Commons
- Mark Steyn "Not Guilty" of "Islamophobia": Human Rights Commission
- Gibbons Charged With Disobeying a Court Order
- Host Desecration Videos Back on YouTube
- Brampton Catholic High School To Host Pro-abort Liberal Leader Stephane Dion
- Exclusive Interview with "Fireproof" Co-Star Erin Bethea
- Oregon Court Orders Frozen Embryos Destroyed, Considered "Property Rights" Issue
- Canadian Archdiocese Advertising Fundraiser for Anti-Catholic Abortion/Condom Promoter
- Barbara Kay - Poland's "preemie miracle" is an embarrassing postscript to Henry Morgentaler's Order of Canada
Most Read this Week
- Canadian Artist and Catholic Novelist Michael O'Brien on Modesty in the Culture of Shamelessness
- Amazing Stories Come out of 2008 Life Chain
- Video Catches Planned Parenthood Covering Up Statutory Rape
- Heartland Christian Church Demands Peaceful Pro-Life LifeChain Participants Leave
- Franciscan University Board Member Backs Obama, School Distances Itself
- The Palin-Biden Debate and Where Things Stand Now
- Mandatory Homosexual Indoctrination in Grade School Survives after Supreme Court Turns Down Case
- The Silver Lining of an Obama Victory
- Harper Would Have to Personally Kill an Unborn Baby to Avoid the Hidden Agenda Charge
- Pro-life Hero Linda Gibbons Arrested Again, Only Days after Acquittal
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.