Cepa ignores anti-creation vote proposal
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
EUROPE'S main human-rights body, the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (Cepa), on June 25 voted 63-46 with 10 abstentions, not to discuss a proposal calling upon the Assembly to vote to prohibit the teaching of evolution and keep creationist and "Intelligent Design" out of science class in state schools in its 47 member countries.
Nevertheless, Reuters wrote, the unusual motion "showed that a US trend for religiously based attacks on the theory of evolution is also worrying European politicians", who now balk at such arguments being put forward in their countries by Christian and Islamic groups.
A report prepared for Cepa to try to sway its vote said the campaign against evolution has its roots "in forms of religious extremism" and "is a dangerous attack on scientific knowledge".
"Today, creationists of all faiths are trying to get their ideas accepted in Europe," it said. "If we are not careful, creationism could become a threat to human rights."
The Council, based in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, oversees human-rights standards in member states and enforces decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.
Creationism teaches that God created the world and all beings in it.
Polls in the United States indicate that about half of all Americans agree with this, while most Europeans support the secularist theory of evolution.
The US Supreme Court has ruled that teaching creationism in science class in public schools violates the separation of church and state.
Supporters of Intelligent Design, which holds that some life forms are too complex to have evolved, say it is a scientific theory that should be taught in school.
A US court has rejected this, however, and the anti-creationism report dismisses it as "neo-creationism".
The report said, "The teaching of all phenomena concerning evolution as a fundamental scientific theory is crucial to the future of our societies and our democracies."
Drawn up by French Socialist and secularist Guy Lengagne for the Assembly's Committee on Culture, Science and Education, the report highlighted a recent Muslim creationist campaign by Turkish writer Harun Yahya, whose lavish 750-page Atlas of Creation has been distributed free to schools in France, Switzerland, Belgium and Spain.
It quoted University of Paris biologist Herve{aac} Le Guyader as calling this "much more dangerous than the previous creationist initiatives, which were often of Anglo-Saxon origin".
The report also cites small groups of creationists — mostly Christians — working in France, Switzerland and Britain and notes that some officials have questioned the teaching of evolution in Poland, Italy, Serbia and the Netherlands.
The Royal Society Britain's academy of sciences and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams have spoken out against teaching creationism in schools there.
Reuters and www.betapolitique.fr
Nevertheless, Reuters wrote, the unusual motion "showed that a US trend for religiously based attacks on the theory of evolution is also worrying European politicians", who now balk at such arguments being put forward in their countries by Christian and Islamic groups.
A report prepared for Cepa to try to sway its vote said the campaign against evolution has its roots "in forms of religious extremism" and "is a dangerous attack on scientific knowledge".
"Today, creationists of all faiths are trying to get their ideas accepted in Europe," it said. "If we are not careful, creationism could become a threat to human rights."
The Council, based in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, oversees human-rights standards in member states and enforces decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.
Creationism teaches that God created the world and all beings in it.
Polls in the United States indicate that about half of all Americans agree with this, while most Europeans support the secularist theory of evolution.
The US Supreme Court has ruled that teaching creationism in science class in public schools violates the separation of church and state.
Supporters of Intelligent Design, which holds that some life forms are too complex to have evolved, say it is a scientific theory that should be taught in school.
A US court has rejected this, however, and the anti-creationism report dismisses it as "neo-creationism".
The report said, "The teaching of all phenomena concerning evolution as a fundamental scientific theory is crucial to the future of our societies and our democracies."
Drawn up by French Socialist and secularist Guy Lengagne for the Assembly's Committee on Culture, Science and Education, the report highlighted a recent Muslim creationist campaign by Turkish writer Harun Yahya, whose lavish 750-page Atlas of Creation has been distributed free to schools in France, Switzerland, Belgium and Spain.
It quoted University of Paris biologist Herve{aac} Le Guyader as calling this "much more dangerous than the previous creationist initiatives, which were often of Anglo-Saxon origin".
The report also cites small groups of creationists — mostly Christians — working in France, Switzerland and Britain and notes that some officials have questioned the teaching of evolution in Poland, Italy, Serbia and the Netherlands.
The Royal Society Britain's academy of sciences and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams have spoken out against teaching creationism in schools there.
Reuters and www.betapolitique.fr
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