The Greatest Understatement in History

The Discovery Institute is a think tank that consists of scientists from several different disciplines who all agree on one basic premise, that life, and the complexity of life, exists as the result of the intelligent design of an intelligent designer. Their premise flies in the face of the majority opinion of scientists throughout the world who hold to a different premise, namely that all things in existence, living and non-living, exist as a result of natural, materialistic processes that have nothing to do with any direction by an intelligent entity. The Discovery Institute's premise is the foundation of what has become known as the Intelligent Design Movement.

In an interview with CNN, leading proponent of evolutionary theory, Richard Dawkins stated, "There’s only one game in town as far as serious science is concerned. It’s not that there are two different theories. No serious scientist doubts that we are cousins of gorillas, we are cousins of monkeys, we are cousins of snails, we are cousins of earthworms. We have shared ancestors with all animals and all plants. There is no serious scientist who doubts that evolution is a fact." (emphasis mine)

A few years ago, a document called "A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism" was circulated and signed by some 800 scientists. They were signing their agreement with this statement, “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.”  Here's a list of the first twelve signees along with their credentials:

Philip Skell* Emeritus, Evan Pugh Prof. of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University Member of the National Academy of Sciences

Lyle H. Jensen Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Biological Structure & Dept. of Biochemistry University of Washington, Fellow AAAS

Maciej Giertych Full Professor, Institute of Dendrology Polish Academy of Sciences

Lev Beloussov Prof. of Embryology, Honorary Prof., Moscow State University Member, Russian Academy of Natural Sciences

Eugene Buff Ph.D. Genetics Institute of Developmental Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences

Emil Palecek Prof. of Molecular Biology, Masaryk University; Leading Scientist Inst. of Biophysics, Academy of Sci., Czech Republic

K. Mosto Onuoha Shell Professor of Geology & Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Univ. of Nigeria Fellow, Nigerian Academy of Science

Ferenc Jeszenszky Former Head of the Center of Research Groups Hungarian Academy of Sciences
M.M. Ninan Former President Hindustan Academy of Science, Bangalore University (India)

Denis Fesenko Junior Research Fellow, Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia)

Sergey I. Vdovenko Senior Research Assistant, Department of Fine Organic Synthesis Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry and Petrochemistry Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences (Ukraine)

Henry Schaefer Director, Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry University of Georgia

Paul Ashby Ph.D. Chemistry Harvard University

The only way that Dawkins' claim can be anything but demonstrably false is if the word "serious" is re-defined as meaning "anyone who does not doubt evolution". Minus any re-definitions  the above-mentioned document shows that there are at least 800 serious scientists who are skeptical of the basis of evolutionary theory.

The claim that life shows the handiwork of an intelligent designer, however, is actually the understatement; not of the day, year, decade, or century...it is the understatement of all time. When the complexity of the material universe is investigated by science on any scale, it is apparent that the investigation has no end. The "bottom" cannot be reached. In fact, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the longer the investigation continues, the more elusive "the answers" and complex the investigation has become, leading many to see, not only intelligent design, but what appears to be infinite intelligence behind the design of all things. 

Even Dawkins will state that the universe has "the appearance of being designed". It must be to his consternation that as the investigation continues, the "appearance" of design, instead of being dispelled, has only become increasingly obvious. The "fact" of the matter is also becoming increasingly obvious, that the theory of Evolution has become a laughing stock to any scientist who is really serious. And I will define the term "serious" as "one who does not operate from an apriori assumption, but lets the evidence speak for itself and lead wherever it may", in other words, one who is as objective as he or she may possibly be.