Evolution Research - General Evolution News

ABC News November 26, 2006: Istanbul, Turkey (Reuters) - A lavishly illustrated 'Atlas of Creation' is mysteriously turning up at schools and libraries in Turkey, proclaiming that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is the real root of terrorism.

Arriving unsolicited by post, the large-format tome offers 768 glossy pages of photographs and easy-to-read text to prove that God created the world with all its species.

At first sight, it looks like it could be the work of United States creationists, the Christian fundamentalists who believe the world was created in six days as told in the Bible.

But the author's name, Harun Yahya (website)*, reveals the surprise inside. This is Islamic creationism, a richly funded movement based in predominantly Muslim Turkey which has an influence U.S. creationists could only dream of.

Creationism is so widely accepted here that Turkey placed last in a recent survey of public acceptance of evolution in 34 countries** - just behind the United States.

"Darwinism is dead," said Kerim Balci of the Fethullah Gulen network, a moderate Islamic movement with many publications and schools but no link to the creationists who produced the atlas.

[Fundamentalism]

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*The entry page to Harun Yahya's website states:

In order to create, God has no need to design

It's important that the word "design" be properly understood. That God has created a flawless design does not mean that He first made a plan and then followed it. God, the Lord of the Earth and the heavens, needs no “designs” in order to create. God is exalted above all such deficiencies. His planning and creation take place at the same instant.

Whenever God wills a thing to come about, it is enough for Him just to say, "Be!"

As verses of the Qur'an tell us:

His command when He desires a thing is just to say to it, "Be!" and it is. (Qur'an, 36: 82)
[God is] the Originator of the heavens and Earth.
When He decides on something, He just says to it, "Be!" and it is. (Qur'an, 2: 117)

From the 'About' page:

This web site has been developed with the aim of promoting and publicizing the works of Harun Yahya, a prominent Turkish thinker and author. His books have attracted great attention both in Turkey and worldwide. In the 90's especially, the works of Harun Yahya have been a means of intellectual awakening for many Muslims, and non-Muslims alike, in the face of the illusions of the modern age. In other words, the name Harun Yahya is an invitation to the truth.

This invitation is a totally non-profit, idealist enterprise. The writer himself does not seek or make any financial gain from the books he has written. Nor those who contribute to the design, publication and the distribution of these books, or the documentary films, audio recordings, graphic designs based on these books seek or make any financial gain. In the same spirit, this web site gives free access to all the books written by Harun Yahya and other materials inspired by his works.

The books of Harun Yahya and thus this web site seek to recall various crucial facts, which people are led to disregard and even deny under the influence of the turmoil of the modern age. One of these basic facts is that of creation, that the universe, living things and man, are not self-existing entities, but the artifacts of God, the Supreme Creator. We are all created by Him and to Him we will all return. The allegedly "scientific" challenges to this fact - like Darwinism and other materialistic dogmas - are nothing but deceptions, as explained in this site.

This web site calls everyone from every corner of the world, from whatever cultural, racial, ethnic or social background to realize this basic fact and think of his duties to his Creator. In this message lies the real redemption and happiness of mankind.

** A post from Friday, August 18, 2006:

Why doesn't America believe in evolution?

Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals: true or false? This simple question is splitting America apart, with a growing proportion thinking that we did not descend from an ancestral ape. A survey of 32 European countries, the US and Japan has revealed that only Turkey is less willing than the US to accept evolution as fact.

Religious fundamentalism, bitter partisan politics and poor science education have all contributed to this denial of evolution in the US, says Jon Miller of Michigan State University in East Lansing, who conducted the survey with his colleagues. 'The US is the only country in which [the teaching of evolution] has been politicised,' he says. 'Republicans have clearly adopted this as one of their wedge issues. In most of the world, this is a non-issue.'

Miller's report makes for grim reading for adherents of evolutionary theory. [intelligent design]

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Millers study "Public Acceptance of Evolution": Summary

There is an [even] earlier report (from Friday, August 11, 2006) here

Featured Book "The Bible, the Qur'an, and Science: The Holy Scriptures Examined in the Light of Modern Knowledge" by Maurice Bucaille (Amazon Astore UK | US)

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