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Thursday, September 24, 2009
A debate between a scientist and a Qur'an believing Muslim over whether the Earth is flat or spherical.
Richard Dawkins in a complete and utter debunking of Islamic creationist Harun Yahya's (Adnan Oktar) book "Atlas of Creation". This video is truly Dawkins at his best.
Little is known about general views of evolution in Muslim countries. A 2007 study of religious patterns found that only 8% of Egyptians, 11% of Malaysians, 14% of Pakistanis, 16% of Indonesians, and 22% of Turks agree that Darwin's theory is probably or most certainly true, and a 2006 survey reported that about a quarter of Turkish adults agreed that human beings evolved from earlier animal species.
In contrast, the 2007 study found that only 28% of Kazakhs thought that evolution is false; this fraction is much lower than the roughly 40% of U.S. adults with the same opinion (though this could be due to the fact that Kazakhstan is a former republic of the USSR, where Atheism was explicitly endorsed and promoted).[1]
In Turkey, polemics against the theory of evolution have been waged by the Nurculuk movement of Said Nursi since the late 1970s. At present, its main exponent[2] is the writer Harun Yahya (pseudonym of Adnan Oktar) who uses the Internet as one of the main methods for the propagation of his ideas.[3] His BAV (Bilim Araştırma Vakfı/ Science Research Foundation) organizes conferences with leading American creationists. Another leading Turkish advocate of Islamic creationism is Fethullah Gülen. Due to the lack of a detailed account of creation in the Qur'an, other aspects than the literal truth of the scripture are emphasized in the Islamic debate.
The most important concept is the idea that there is no such thing as a random event, and that everything happens according to God's will. This does not mean that God has to interfere with the universe and it is ok to believe God set the universe in motion. Hence the ideas of some Islamic creationists are closer to Intelligent design than to Young Earth Creationism. Another Muslim viewpoint is that evolution is real and that God did create it by creating the universe.
According to Guardian some British Muslim students quote the Qu'ran in scientific exams and fail as a result.[4] At a conference in the UK in January, 2004, entitled Creationism: Science and Faith in Schools, Dr Khalid Anees, president of the Islamic Society of Britain stated that "Muslims interpret the world through both the Koran and what is tangible and seen. There is no contradiction between what is revealed in the Quran and natural selection and survival of the fittest."[5] However, over 1,505 people opposed the creationist movement and the Brown government has recently published new standards removing creationism from the schools.
In contrast, the 2007 study found that only 28% of Kazakhs thought that evolution is false; this fraction is much lower than the roughly 40% of U.S. adults with the same opinion (though this could be due to the fact that Kazakhstan is a former republic of the USSR, where Atheism was explicitly endorsed and promoted).[1]
In Turkey, polemics against the theory of evolution have been waged by the Nurculuk movement of Said Nursi since the late 1970s. At present, its main exponent[2] is the writer Harun Yahya (pseudonym of Adnan Oktar) who uses the Internet as one of the main methods for the propagation of his ideas.[3] His BAV (Bilim Araştırma Vakfı/ Science Research Foundation) organizes conferences with leading American creationists. Another leading Turkish advocate of Islamic creationism is Fethullah Gülen. Due to the lack of a detailed account of creation in the Qur'an, other aspects than the literal truth of the scripture are emphasized in the Islamic debate. The most important concept is the idea that there is no such thing as a random event, and that everything happens according to God's will. This does not mean that God has to interfere with the universe and it is ok to believe God set the universe in motion. Hence the ideas of some Islamic creationists are closer to Intelligent design than to Young Earth Creationism. Another Muslim viewpoint is that evolution is real and that God did create it by creating the universe.
According to Guardian some British Muslim students quote the Qu'ran in scientific exams and fail as a result.[4] At a conference in the UK in January, 2004, entitled Creationism: Science and Faith in Schools, Dr Khalid Anees, president of the Islamic Society of Britain stated that "Muslims interpret the world through both the Koran and what is tangible and seen. There is no contradiction between what is revealed in the Quran and natural selection and survival of the fittest."[5] However, over 1,505 people opposed the creationist movement and the Brown government has recently published new standards removing creationism from the schools.
