Over the last 20+ years, supporters of our work at the Center for Science & Culture have been vital in educating talented young people about the corrosive and science-stopping impact of neo-Darwinian and other naturalistic explanations for biological origins. Because of the generosity of our visionary donors, students around the world are being inspired and energized to contribute their talents to the intelligent design (ID) movement.

Our next Seminar program is July 7-15, 2017, in Seattle, with tracks in both science and the humanities. Potential students will find information about applying here. Our deadline for accepting applications is April 4.

Often, our students have had to endure isolation as they pursue their degrees. Meet Amy, for example, who has been passionate about math and biology as long as she can remember. In her late teens, she devoured books by Michael Behe, William Dembski, Michael Denton, and Stephen Meyer. Full of hope for the future, she headed off to college to study molecular biology at a prestigious research university in the Midwest.

But in her first college biology class she was immediately confronted by ridicule for the idea that anything but purposeless and random processes are responsible for the seeming design of life. Instructors stifled any discussion that went outside of their materialist views of life’s origins.

She persevered because her passions and convictions were strong. After years of increasing hostility, Amy felt alone and isolated in the midst of all these bright minds that had been constricted by the limits of Darwinian materialism.

But Amy was lucky. A friend and longtime supporter of Discovery Institute’s CSC told her about the Seminar on Intelligent Design in the Natural Sciences. She applied and was accepted. The experience transformed her life, as evidenced by her comment in the closing survey we distribute to students:

I feel deeply privileged to have met the Discovery Institute people…I think that without their intervention I would not have gone back to university. Being around like-minded people makes me feel less alone.

Amy is one reason I am taking this opportunity to ask you to help us make our 2017 Summer Seminars possible for more students like her. What can you do? First of all, let potential students know about this amazing opportunity. There are many more students like Amy who need to be aware of our Summer Seminars. And second:

Your support will allow us to offer this program at no cost to most of the participants, which is vital to attracting top students and those who could not otherwise afford to come.

Donations of every size will help make possible an educational and networking experience like no other. But don’t take my word for it; listen to another student’s comments:

Thank you so much for this opportunity. As an evolutionary biologist I’ve been working in an environment totally hostile towards ID and have been isolated from others of ID leanings. Meeting people from all over the world who are intelligent, articulate, and passionate defenders and promoters of ID…helped me realize that we are not a small group of fringe thinkers unable to accept a scientific truth.

Your support of the Summer Seminar program will allow us to educate a new generation of scientists, scholars, and educators. It will make a community of support and encouragement possible, so these gifted and promising young people no longer have to feel alone in pursuit of their passion. Thank you!

Photo credit: © science photo — stock.adobe.com.