The Corner

Monkey Business at the Council of Europe

There is some huffing and puffing on creationist websites about the Council of Europe’s resolution opposing the teaching of creationism in member nations’ public schools.

I’m no fan of the Euro-bureaucracy and its expense-account-stuffed “parliamentarian” hangers-on.  What is taught in the public schools of EU member nations ought to be left to the people of those nations to decide.  However, I’d ask readers to note the following points.

—The resolution is non-binding.  It doesn’t oblige anyone to do, or not do, anything.

—It opposes the teaching of creationism in science classes.  It has no objection to the teaching of, or at any rate teaching about, creationism in Religious Instruction classes, which are part of the public-education curriculum in some member nations (e.g. the U.K.).

—The push for creationism in Europe is coming from the East–currently from radical Muslims in Turkey.  Fundamentalist Islam is fiercely creationist.  In debate, creationists like to stick orthodox biologists with guilt by association:  “Don’t you know that Nazi eugenicists were all admirers of Darwin? etc. etc.”  I always make a point of warning them that we fans of orthodox biology hold a few guilt-by-association cards too…

John Derbyshire — Mr. Derbyshire is a former contributing editor of National Review.
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