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New Darwin Dissent List for the 60% of U.S. Doctors Skeptical of Darwinian Evolution: List Involves No Commitment to the Theory of Intelligent Design

If, as a poll conducted by HDI Research in conjunction with the Finkelstein Institute suggests, 60% of U.S. medical doctors are skeptical of the Darwinian account of human origins, then why not start a dissent list for physicians similar to our dissent list of Ph.D. scientists? Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity now has, and M.D.s can read about the dissent statement and join the list at www.doctorsdoubtingdarwin.org.

The purpose of the list is to undercut the Darwinist claim that there is no scientific controversy over Darwinism, and to provide support for embattled scientists in the academy skeptical of Darwinism. To promote the new list, link to it from your website and forward the URL to doctors you know, encouraging them to look at PSSI’s website.

Many Darwinists will tell you that nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of Darwinian evolution. Apparently, most U.S. medical doctors — with a far more intimate knowledge of human biology than is possessed by most academic biologists — didn’t get the memo.

Was the 60% majority a cabal of Christian fundamentalist hillbillies? The poll’s demographic breakdown suggests otherwise. Go to the Finkelstein poll link and click on Q7 in the leftand margin: “What are your views on the origin and development of human beings?” Only the third answer represents the Darwinian view of undirected evolution by natural selection. (The third answer also covers the structuralist and self-organizational models of evolutionary development.) Here’s what the demographic breakdown shows.

Jewish doctors: 32% reject Darwinism.
Protestant doctors (largest group of U.S. doctors): 81% reject Darwinism.
Catholic doctors: 78% reject Darwinism.
Orthodox Christian doctors: 72% reject Darwinism.
Hindu doctors: 54% reject Darwinism.
Buddhist doctors: 43% reject Darwinism (compared to 36% who accepted it)
Muslim doctors: 86% reject Darwinism.
Atheist doctors: 2% reject Darwinism
“Spiritual but no organized religion”: 48% reject Darwinism.
“Other”: 54% reject Darwinism

Although the margin of error is surely much higher for the small sampling of Hindus, Buddhists, Spiritual, and Other, the poll results for these groups should give the mainstream media pause. The skepticism toward undirected evolution is strikingly high even among these medical doctors.

Why are the percentages so much higher than in the academy? Medical doctors don’t have to get tenure, for one.

By comparing the results of Q6 to Q7, it’s clear that many doctors considered intelligently guided evolution to be in the “evolution” category rather than in the “intelligent design” category. Only with Q7, where unguided models of evolution (like Darwinism) are teased apart from intelligently guided evolution, does it become clear that a distinct majority of U.S. physicians doubt Darwinism.

If you are an M.D. skeptical of Darwinism, consider adding your name to the list immediately.

Jonathan Witt

Executive Editor, Discovery Institute Press and Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Jonathan Witt, PhD, is Executive Editor of Discovery Institute Press and a senior fellow and senior project manager with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. His latest book is Heretic: One Scientist’s Journey from Darwin to Design (DI Press, 2018) written with Finnish bioengineer Matti Leisola. Witt has also authored co-authored Intelligent Design Uncensored, A Meaningful World: How the Arts and Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature, and The Hobbit Party: The Vision of Freedom That Tolkien Got, and the West Forgot. Witt is the lead writer and associate producer for Poverty, Inc., winner of the $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award and recipient of over 50 international film festival honors.

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