Evolution is a vital, well-supported, unifying principle of the biological sciences, and the scientific evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of the idea that all living things share a common ancestry. Although there are legitimate debates about the patterns and processes of evolution, there is no serious scientific doubt that evolution occurred or that natural selection is a major mechanism in its occurrence. It is scientifically inappropriate and pedagogically irresponsible for creationist pseudoscience, including but not limited to "intelligent design," to be introduced into the science curricula of our nation's public schools.
Project Steve's official statement

Project Steve is a tongue-in-cheek response to creationist claims that evolution is a "theory in crisis". Directly, it riffs on the Dissent from Darwinism List, which is a collection of scientists and other professionals who challenge the validity of the theory of evolution in order to demonstrate that its rejection is not purely motivated by religious belief. Realizing that such a list should not be left without a response or the public might take its "theory in crisis" claim too seriously, the National Center for Science Education took what they felt was appropriate action.

Of course, to collect the names of all scientists who support evolutionary theory would result in an absurdly massive and therefore utterly meaningless list, so to bring it down to a manageable and humorous level they decided to only collect scientists named Steve (in honor of Stephen Jay Gould). Variations of Steve are accepted, including Stephanie, and the applicant must have a PhD or equivalent degree. Statistically, 1.6% of males and 0.4% of females are named Steve or Stephanie, which gives a rough approximation of the list representing 1% of the total number of scientists who accept evolutionary theory.

The original goal of Project Steve was to collect 100 names, to match the year 2002 number of names on the Dissent from Darwinism List. The response was greater than expected, however, and the list acquired 220 Steves in the very first month, ending in February of 2003. Their point made, they did not originally intend to allow the list to continue growing, but the Steves kept pouring in. In February of 2009, Project Steve collected its 1,000th Steve... amusingly enough, Stephen P. Darwin, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana (no relation). There are currently over 1,100 Steves on the list. The Dissent from Darwinism List has also grown in the intervening years, but at a slower pace (they don't provide a count, but I estimate 700–800 names, 10 of whom are Steves).

Both the Dissent from Darwinism List and Project Steve openly admit that science is not decided by popular vote. Dissent from Darwinism is merely intended to show that not every scientist supports evolutionary theory, and Project Steve is a simple demonstration that the theory of evolution is in no way a "theory in crisis".

Is NCSE going to circulate a similar statement for Janes, Johns, and so on?
No. It's only funny once.

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