Saturday, July 21, 2007

Islamic Creationist

NYT reported In the United States, opposition to the teaching of evolution in public schools has largely been fueled by the religious right, particularly Protestant fundamentalism. Now another voice is entering the debate, in dramatic fashion. It is the voice of Adnan Oktar of Turkey, who, under the name Harun Yahya, has produced numerous books, videos and DVDs on science and faith, in particular what he calls the “deceit” inherent in the theory of evolution. One of his books, “Atlas of Creation,” is turning up, unsolicited, in mailboxes of scientists around the country and members of Congress, and at science museums in places like Queens and Bemidji, Minn.

The Carpetbagger Report blogged Not surprisingly, the book is ridiculous, at least as far as the science goes,
The Secular Humanists believe anything that opposes what their religion has hijacked science to claim must be ridiculous. I don't really care for what the Secular Humanists or the Muslims think either.
but the distribution of the text is what’s raising eyebrows.... An expensive, glossy, 800-page book isn’t cheap to produce or print, but it also costs quite a bit to send them to scientists, doctors, and journalists from coast to coast.
So Protestant fundamental ideas are attacked based on their content, while Muslim ideas are attacked because of the money spent to spread them. I wonder if he fears attacking the content would be likely to cost him his head.
.... Perhaps we should expect the fight over religion in science classes to get more complicated in the near future, with Christian and Muslim fundamentalists teaming up to undermine modern biology.
Maybe I am wrong, but I don't expect to see the two religions groups to team up against the Secular Humanists. The philosophical differences, between Christians, who want to see their faith spread by the love expressed by Jesus Christ, and the Muslims, who want to see their faith spread by force, as expressed by Muhammad, is too great for them to team up against the Secular Humanists, who want to see their faith spread by educational bureaucrats.

No comments: