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Busting Another Darwinist Myth: Skeptics of Evolution Do Exist Outside the United States!

A common Darwinist myth is that the only people who are skeptical of evolution are Americans. A recent article in the Virginia Informer stated, “John Swaddler, UK native and associate professor of biology at the College [of William and Mary], noted that the media phenomenon of creationism/ID vs. evolution doesn’t happen in countries besides America.” Saddler is promoting a common Darwinist claim which is simply untrue:

As we’ve noted recently, there has been a push to teach intelligent design in the United Kingdom. This summer an article in the London Guardian noted that over 30% of British students support non-evolutionary accounts of the history of life. Such skepticism extends far beyond the U.K. Nature reported that Poland is experiencing an “aggressive anti-evolution campaign.” According to another Nature article, there’s a legal controversy over teaching evolution in Russia as well. Finally, a very recent Nature news article entitled “Anti-evolutionists raise their profile in Europe” discusses challenges to evolution in Poland, Belgium, France, Germany, Britain, Russia, Italy, and Turkey over the past few years.

Some of these disputes resemble American disputes over evolution-education. For example, Poland’s minister of science, Micha Seweryski, perfectly expressed the typical position of Darwinists: “‘There is no need for a discussion,'” he told Nature. ‘Scientific evidence is clear and the opinion of a minority will not change teaching in schools.'” (“Polish scientists fight creationism,” Nature, Vol 443:890, Oct. 26, 2006, emphasis added) Seweryski’s dogmatism speaks for itself.

Of course Darwinists try to pretend that evolution-skepticism is unique to America in order to promote what Justice Antonin Scalia called the “beloved secular legend of the [Scopes] Monkey Trial,” which claims Darwin skepticism is entirely religiously based. Regardless of what Micha Seweryski says, there are many scientific reasons to be skeptical of Neo-Darwinism.

In my opinion, we should drop these myths, stop excluding “minority” opinions, and start discussing the evidence!

Casey Luskin

Associate Director and Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Casey Luskin is a geologist and an attorney with graduate degrees in science and law, giving him expertise in both the scientific and legal dimensions of the debate over evolution. He earned his PhD in Geology from the University of Johannesburg, and BS and MS degrees in Earth Sciences from the University of California, San Diego, where he studied evolution extensively at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. His law degree is from the University of San Diego, where he focused his studies on First Amendment law, education law, and environmental law.

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