User talk:Filll/supportsummary


 * Young Creationist club including a couple of lists etc and lots of fruitcake material —Preceding unsigned comment added by Filll (talk • contribs) 17:43, 3 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Evolution is losing support among scientists SkepticWiki


 * AAAS resolutions


 * The Imminent Demise of Evolution: The Longest Running Falsehood in Creationism, Copyright 2002 G.R. Morton.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Filll (talk • contribs) 04:45, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

Petitions and lists

 * "21 Scientists Who Believe in Creation", 1971, 21


 * A Scientific Support for Darwinism, 2005, 7733
 * Clergy letter project, 2004+, 10758+
 * Project Steve, 2003+, 818+
 * A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism, 2001, 700+
 * Physicians and Surgeons who Dissent from Darwinism, 2006+ (?), 252+


 * Institute for Creation Research,


 * 39 listed in physical sciences, of which 24 claim to have PhDs in the physical sciences, one of which is dead.


 * 41 listed in biological sciences of which 24 claim to have PhDs in the biological sciences.


 * Answers in Genesis,


 * 194 modern scientists listed, of which 113 might be arguably scientists, of which 4 are dead


 * Possibly 32 are in relevant fields to evolution
 * Large number of foreigners


 * Lists 56 creationist scientists before Darwin
 * Lists 33 just after Darwin, of which 3 might be relevant and one is marked as an "old earth compromiser"
 * lists 14 in "early modern period"

Includes a disclaimer at bottom of "modern" scientists stating:


 * Includes a list of anticreationists scientists in an "enemies" list, including Richard Dawkins, Eugenie Scott, Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, Julian Huxley, J. B. S. Haldane, Stephen Jay Gould, Daniel Dennett. (11)


 * Creation Ministries International.


 * Scientists alive today* who accept the biblical account of creation
 * about 210 "scientists" listed
 * Possibly 128 are scientists
 * possibly 48 are in relevant fields
 * About 10 of those listed are faculty at Cedarville University, a small Baptist school in Ohio where all students are required to take at least a minor in Bible studies, and on and off campus dances are forbidden.


 * includes disclaimer *(except those who are recently deceased)


 * Christian Answers.


 * lists 94 with doctorates (no specialty)
 * possibly 24 are scientists in relevant fields (includes doctors, theologians, engineers, etc)


 * Claims C. Everett Koop is a creationist

A large part of the difficulty in evaluating these lists is the problem of deciding who is and is not a "scientist." There has been a long-standing tradition of including people with all kinds of degrees on these lists and calling them "scientists". For example, lists of "scientists" have included people with philosophy degrees, history degrees, english degrees, as well as dentists, optometrists, engineers, mathematicians, theologians or people with degrees from diploma mills or bible colleges, as well as people who are deceased. This can pad a list considerably, making it very difficult to know how much value to ascribe to such a list.

A rough evaluation of the professional qualifications of a list of purported scientists can be made by enumerating those on a given list with at least a PhD in a natural science (even better if they are from a major accredited institution). This excludes some who do science but are trained in other fields, and includes some nonscientists as well. It also unfairly excludes some with other degrees.

An approximate metric for the "worth" of a given list can be determined by counting the number of individuals that have some level of professional qualification in a relevant field. For example, it is not useful to survey doctors when trying to forecast the weather, and not useful to get medical diagnoses from meteorologists or from pre-med students. In the case of probing the creationism-evolution controversy, those who are most relevant are those with doctoral-level training and expertise in biological evolution,

Relevant individuals are defined to be those with a doctoral degree in biology or geology. This excludes some who do work that is relevant to dating the earth and the universe such as physicists and astronomers, but focuses on those whose work will more often involve principles of biological evolution.

Scientists are defined to be those with a doctoral degree in the natural sciences. This excludes engineers and mathematicians and psychologists, who often do not engage in scientific work, although some can and do (although not usually in areas relevant to evolution and dating the earth or the universe).

Resolutions
Another common method of demonstrating their commitment to evolution is for societies and organizations to make pronouncements to affirm their acceptance of certain core principles and beliefs.