Hi This came up on PESTs a few days ago ... I pointed out that Turkey is actually the only country surveyed a few years ago with lower belief in evolution than the USA. Here's other points
Taner Edis has written much on creationism and Islam. See a recent summary at http://www.hssonline.org/publications/Newsletter2008/NewsletterJanuary2008Creationism.html There is a well-funded creationist movement in Turkey, Harun Yahya, which has "borrowed" extensively from American creationists. See http://www.harunyahya.com/ And of course, it was reported several years ago that the only country with lower commitment to evolution than the USA was Turkey. See http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2006/08/well-at-least-w.html Perhaps USA can take some comfort in fact that if the many less-developed nations of the world were surveyed, they would probably be even less committed to evolution than the USA and Turkey. Canada can hardly be sanguine about this matter ... Several years ago one of our major, national granting agencies (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) appeared (in many people's minds) to question evolution and put intelligent design on the same footing. See http://atheisme.ca/annonce/HAC_SSHRC_2006_09_en.html I think it is safe to say that from an international perspective, the debate about evolution is likely to continue for the next 200 years after Darwin's birth and the next 150 years after the publication of the Origin of Species. James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca >>> Jeffry Ricker <jeff.ric...@sccmail.maricopa.edu> 13-Mar-09 6:05:55 PM >>> http://chronicle.com/news/article/6113/editor-of-turkish-scientific-journal- reportedly-is-sacked-for-darwin-cover-story March 11, 2009 Editor of Turkish Scientific Journal Reportedly Is Sacked for Darwin Cover Story By Aisha Labi The editor of a scientific journal published by Turkey*s state-run Scientific and Technological Research Council has reportedly been removed from her post for commissioning a March cover story on Charles Darwin to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the naturalist*s birth. The council*s vice president, who is also a member of the magazine*s editorial board, *removed the story from the journal and put an article about climate change on the cover instead,* the Turkish daily newspaper Hšrriyet reported. Dozens of university students and professors protested the council*s action outside its Ankara headquarters today, the Associated Press reported. The country*s secularists suspect the governing party, which has its roots in political Islam, is seeking to raise the role of religion and promote the Muslim version of creationism. Turkey occupies a *central position in the creationist movement* outside the United States, Hšrriyet noted in an earlier article. Turkey*s main, secular opposition party has filed a parliamentary motion over the apparent censorship, but Hšrriyet reported that the research council*s president had *left the media*s questions largely unanswered.* >>> "Mike Palij" <m...@nyu.edu> 18-Mar-09 3:56:28 PM >>> On Wed, 18 Mar 2009 06:12:03 -0700, Stephen Black wrote: >Yesterday, we had a shocker in the People's Republic of Canada. Our >Science Minister, (yes, our _science_ minister), with the proud title of >federal Minister of State for Science and Technology, was asked whether >he "believed in evolution". > >He refused to say, replying "I'm not going to answer that question. I am >a Christian, and I don't think anybody asking a question about my >religion is appropriate" (and you just have to admire the creative syntax >of that statement). You might want to take a look at the editorial in this week's Nature: |Editorial |Nature 458, 259 (19 March 2009) | doi:10.1038/458259a; |Published online 18 |March 2009 |Turkey censors evolution | |Turkey's government has done more for science than many. A row over |a censored magazine and a sacked editor could put the good work at risk. | |It has been the biggest crisis in Turkish academia since last year's lifting |of the headscarf ban in universities. Last week a portrait of Charles Darwin |was taken off the cover of the March issue of the government-backed |science magazine Bilim ve Teknik (Science and Technology) just before |it went to press. TšBTAK, Turkey's national science funding agency, |which publishes the magazine, then sacked its editor, šidem Atakuman. |Scientists, assuming censorship, are justifiably outraged and protests are |ongoing. see: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v458/n7236/full/458259a.html Anti-evolutionism: Not just for Christians anymore. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
