The Discovery Institute in Seattle, Wash., says the statement being disbursed by the Internet reads, in part: "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."

The list of signatories reportedly includes scientists from National Academies of Science in Russia, Czech Republic, Hungary, India (Hindustan), Nigeria, Poland, Russia and the United States.

"Dissent from Darwinism has gone global," said Discovery Institute President Bruce Chapman, a former deputy assistant to President Ronald Reagan.

"Darwinists used to claim that virtually every scientist in the world held that Darwinian evolution was true, but we quickly started finding U.S. scientists that disproved that statement. Now we're finding that there are hundreds, and probably thousands, of scientists all over the world that don't subscribe to Darwin's theory."

The Discovery Institute is a conservative Christian think tank founded in 1990 which has been promoting teaching of intelligent design in schools.

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