On Tue, Aug 02, 2005 at 06:00:07PM -0600, David Farber wrote:
> But advocates of intelligent design also claim support from > scientists. > The Discovery Institute, a conservative think tank in Seattle that is > the leading proponent for intelligent design, said it had compiled a > list of more than 400 scientists, including 70 biologists, who are > skeptical about evolution. > > "The fact is that a significant number of scientists are extremely > skeptical that Darwinian evolution can explain the origins of life," > John West, associate director of the organization's Center for Science > and Culture, said in a prepared statement. >
What puts the lie to this number is that Discovery Institute still can't catch up with Project Steve, where scientists named Steve (estimated to be around 1% of the population) have signed a statement in defense of evolution and opposition to creationism in science classes. Checking the Steve-o-Meter (see link in FAQ), Project Steve has 580 scientists to its name.
The introduction to Project Steve is here: http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/3541_project_steve_2_16_2003.asp
The directory of links about the project is here: http://www.ncseweb.org/article.asp?category=18
This argument by numbers demonstrates that what the creationists are doing is not science despite their protestations. Real science is about testing facts, not signing loyalty oaths. No matter how many theocrats want material on creationism, the flat earth, or the heavenly spheres tought in science classes, it's still not science.