More on Islam and Evolution

I had earlier posted about how Islam, which traditionally has accepted evolution without much difficulty, is beginning to be influenced by fundamentalist Christian views on creation. Read my original post here, which described how a new center in Turkey, the Foundation for Scientific Research (BAV), headed by Adnan Oktar, is leading this effort.

The New York Times has more on the story:

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.

At 11 x 17 inches and 12 pounds, with a bright red cover and almost 800 glossy pages, most of them lavishly illustrated, “Atlas of Creation” is probably the largest and most beautiful creationist challenge yet to Darwin’s theory, which Mr. Yahya calls a feeble and perverted ideology contradicted by the Koran.

In bowing to Scripture, Mr. Yahya resembles some fundamentalist creationists in the United States. But he is not among those who assert that Earth is only a few thousand years old. The principal argument of “Atlas of Creation,” advanced in page after page of stunning photographs of fossil plants, insects and animals, is that creatures living today are just like creatures that lived in the fossil past. Ergo, Mr. Yahya writes, evolution must be impossible, illusory, a lie, a deception or “a theory in crisis.”

In fact, there is no credible scientific challenge to the theory of evolution as an explanation for the complexity and diversity of life on earth.

The book caused a stir earlier this year when a French translation materialized at high schools, universities and museums in France. Until then, creationist literature was relatively rare in France, according to Armand de Ricqles, a professor of historical biology and evolutionism at the College de France. Scientists spoke out against the book, he said in an e-mail message, and “thanks to the highly centralized public school system in France, it was possible to organize that the books sent to lycĂ©es would not be made available to children.”

. . .

Kenneth R. Miller, a biologist at Brown University, said he and his colleagues in the life sciences had all received copies. When he called friends at the University of Colorado and the University of Chicago, they had the books too, he said. Scientists at Brigham Young University, the University of Connecticut, the University of Georgia and others have also received them.

“I think he must have sent it to every full professor in the medical school,” said Kathryn L. Calame, a microbiologist at the Columbia University medical school who received a copy. “The genetics department, the biochem department, micro — everybody I talked to had it.”

In the book and on his Web site (www.harunyahya.com), Mr. Yahya says he was born in Ankara in 1956, and grew up and was educated in Turkey. He says he seeks to unmask what the book calls “the imposture of evolutionists” and the links between their scientific views and modern evils like fascism, communism and terrorism. He says he hopes to encourage readers “to open their minds and hearts and guide them to become more devoted servants of God.”



Read it all here.

Comments

Anonymous said…
The Coming Athentication of Genesis

On or before August 15, 2007, a book is scheduled to be
published. It’s title is “Moses Didn’t Write About
Creation!!”, written by Ephraim. The “Big Bang” and
evolution theories, plus the doctrines of current creationist
factions, shall be exposed as being in error.

After fifteen years, the truth of Genesis will finally be
available to the public, blowing all previous attempts to
explain Genesis "out of the water". This book will be the
most notable biblical authentication since the Dead Sea Scrolls.
It is the first and only book written that explains the difference
between the “six days of Moses” and the “seven days of
Creation Week”.

It is also the only book to completely explain the events that
lead to the Extra-Celestial Civil War, also known as “the
war in Heaven”. Comprehensive coverage of the war is given,
when it ended, and how it affected the ancient history of our
universe.

Finally, it explains the Messiahship of Jesus, and reveals how He
was really half Judean (for royalty) and half Levite (for priesthood).
It also explains to non-believers the sanctity of God’s marriage to
Israel, and why Jesus had to die first before the gospel could be
preached to gentiles.

The ISBN is 1-4241-8220-4.

Herman Cummings
PO Box 1745
Fortson GA, 31808
Ephraim7@aol.com
(706) 662-2893

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