Evolution Questioned in Europe & Russia

In the movie “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed”, Ben Stein interviewed various scientists who explained that many academic institutions are so unscientific that they will hurt the careers of serious scientists who write papers demonstrating that that the “theory of evolution” (it is actually a model/proposed explanation, not a true theory), as commonly understood, cannot be correct.

Some in Europe and Russia are questioning evolution, while others insist upon it.

Notice the following news item:

European Creationists Take On Darwin

The US isn’t the only place with heated debates about Darwin’s theory of evolution: Europe has its own hardcore creationists and intelligent design backers, too. Increasingly, they are making their voices heard.

Spiegel – Feb 25, 2009…

Fundamentalist Christians who believe in creationism — which holds that God created the world and humanity in the manner described in the Bible — reject the principle of evolution and are striking back. They are pushing for the use of school texts that vilify the theory of evolution as a mere ideology. They have sued to have the theory of intelligent design — a water-down version of creationism — taught in biology courses at the same time as evolution, as both an equally valid scientific theory and alternative to evolution…

James Williams, a lecturer in science education at the University of Sussex…has studied the influence that creationists have had in the United Kingdom. And it is big: According to a survey conducted in 2006, the majority of British have their doubts about evolution, and 40 percent want creationism taught in biology classes.

Scientists agree that the overwhelming mass of evidence supports the theory of evolution. “No serious scientist questions the theory of evolution,” says Ralf Sommer, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Tübingen. “The only thing being discussed is the mechanisms of evolution, and that is a rather animated field of study.”

The guerrilla tactics used against evolution continue to be the same: Evolution’s opponents try to discredit Darwin’s broader theory by looking for gaps and narrower scientific issues that remain answered.

As Williams sees it, the fact that evolution is such a basic principle and lively field of scientific inquiry makes it a natural place to find so many open questions. But that’s no reason to cast doubt on the theory of evolution as a whole. “Even though no physicist has been able to explain why objects have mass,” Williams adds, “no one questions the theory of gravity.”

Intelligent design and creationism, on the other hand, are not scientific theories because they aren’t falsifiable: They postulate the existence of a deity, a divine creation and guided evolution — all things that can never be empirically proved or disproved.

Not Just Americans

This type of reasoning hasn’t stopped people from doubting the theory of evolution. In Germany, 20 percent of the population doesn’t believe in the theory; in the US, it’s closer to one-third.

For many years, people have viewed creationism as a purely American phenomenon. The fact is, however, that there are also creationist currents in Europe, too, and an anti-evolution movement that is even less homogenous than the one in the US. On one side, you can find the creationists, who are splintered into groups of hard-line “Young Earth” creationists and supporters of intelligent design. On the other side, you find the churches, who have not taken a definitive stance on the issue.

In June 2007, the Council of Europe’s Committee on Culture, Science and Education released a report entitled “The Dangers of Creationism in Education.” According to Anne Brasseur, a member of the council who collaborated on the report, its goal was to firmly anchor the theory of evolution in school curricula.

The report was prompted by resistance to teaching Darwin’s theory in some European countries. “For example,” Brasseur explains, “the former deputy education minister of Poland called the theory of evolution a lie.”

She went on to list a number of other negative examples:

In Russia, many parents are strongly opposed to the teaching of evolution in grade schools.

In Italy in 2004, there was a proposed decree against the theory of evolution.

In Switzerland, the ProGenesis group has a tentative project called “Genesis-Land” that envisions a leisure park on the model of the Creation Museum in the US state of Kentucky.

In the United Kingdom, creationists hold lectures at schools and organize international symposia.

In Turkey, the Islamic creationist Harun Yahya has published his “Atlas of Creation” and sent hundreds of free copies to schools all over the world.

In Germany, the Ministry of Education for the state of Hesse saw no infringement of the curriculum when teachers at a number of schools were found to be teaching the Biblical theory of creation in biology class.

The publishing house “Studiengemeinschaft Wort und Wissen” is now publishing the sixth edition of a grade school textbook that includes the theory of intelligent design. http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,609712,00.html

It is good that people question evolution as it has no serious scientific backing as being the initial cause of life.

When evolutionists make assertions such as “No serious scientist questions the theory of evolution“, they only demonstrate that their belief is a close-minded (as well as false) religion as serious scientists are supposed to be able to question any theory/model if they have reason to do so.

To assert that no serious scientist questions evolution is false. It is simply that scientists that promote evolution are afraid to have it seriously questioned as anyone who truly understands biology realizes that there is no way that random amino acids can line up and have an outer membrane, somehow become alive, somehow know that they need to eat, somehow be able to digest what they have eaten, and have the ability to reproduce. Each of these five steps is logically impossible to randomly occur, and it only takes one of them to not happen to destroy the evolutionary explanation of the origin of life.

Thus to indicate, as the article did, that intelligent design is not a theory and that evolution is because intelligent design in not “falsifiable” is somewhat insane as evolution as the origin of life is clearly false.

Actually, when pressed, evolutionist Richard Dawkins in the Ben Stein movie actually claimed something to the effect that life on earth probably came from another planet as conditions on the earth to spontaneously generate life were questionable (see also Ben Stein’s Expelled). And of course, even if life on earth came from another planet (and somehow arrived alive on earth–an almost impossible, if not impossible, occurrence, that means at that planet the five impossible steps would have had to occur.

And if it is impossible in one place, it would be impossible to randomly occur somewhere else. The truth is that the Bible is correct:

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…

11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good…

20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good…

24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so…(Genesis 1:1,11,20-12,24).

For more detailed information on why the biblical explanation makes scientific sense, please read the following articles:

Is God’s Existence Logical? Some say it is not logical to believe in God. Is that true?
Is Evolution Probable or Impossible or Is God’s Existence Logical? Part II This short article clearly answers what ‘pseudo-scientists’ refuse to acknowledge.
Where Did God Come From? Any ideas? And how has God been able to exist? Who is God?
How is God Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient? Here is a biblical article by Wallace Smith which answers what many really wonder about it.
What is the Meaning of Life? Who does God say is happy? What is your ultimate destiny? Do you really know? Does God actually have a plan for YOU personally?
The Bible: Fact or Fiction? This is a booklet written by Douglas Winnail that answers if the Bible is just a collection of myths and legends or the inspired word of God.