The Shock Caused by Atlas of Creation or The Rise of Muslim Creationism

The Shock Caused by Atlas of Creation or The Rise of Muslim Creationism - 03.05.2008 United Kingdom/New Humanist

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In its May/June 2008 issue, the magazine New Humanist, which has been published in London ever since 1885, carried an article about the rise of creationism in Europe. The story, by the Danish evolutionist professor Peter C. Kjaergaard, noted the impact Adnan Oktar?s work was having in Europe. Kjaergaard said that ?creationists are on the march in Europe? and went on to report:

On 4 October 2007 the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly passed Resolution 1580, which issued a stark warning: creationism, the denial of Darwinian evolution, is on the rise in Europe. ? But what provoked this European body to issue such an uncharacteristically clear and forthright statement? ? Examples cited of a growing creationist influence ranged from subtle downgrading of evolution in science education to outright attacks on the validity of Darwinism ?

? the report also focused its attention on a new phenomenon ? the rise of Muslim creationism. The central figure here is the Turkish Muslim creationist Adnan Oktar, who, writing under the pen name Harun Yahya, has made a career out of attacking Darwinian evolution. ? Since 2006 copies of a substantial, glossy and smartly packaged book called Atlas of Creation, credited to Harun Yahya, had been arriving at schools and universities across Europe. In Spain, France, Switzerland and Denmark clear evidence of the growing resources and confidence of European Muslim creationism was thudding on to the mat. The book is the first of a projected seven-part series, and parts two and three have already begun arriving at educational institutes Europe-wide.

? the shock caused by Atlas of Creation is largely unrelated to its contents? The real point is that before the book arrived many had no idea there was a resurgent Muslim creationism in Europe? One thing is clear: creationism has indeed come to Europe ?, therefore, we have to take it seriously. ? What we have seen so far is just the beginning?.

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