Whatever the defeats they have suffered on home ground, American foes of Darwin seem to be gaining influence elsewhere. In February several luminaries of the anti-evolution movement in the United States went to Istanbul for a grand conference where Darwin's ideas were roundly denounced. The organiser of the gathering was a Turkish Muslim author and columnist, Mustafa Akyol, who forged strong American connections during a fellowship at the Discovery Institute.To the dismay of some Americans and the delight of others, Mr Akyol was invited to give evidence (against Darwin's ideas) at hearings held by the Kansas school board in 2005 on how science should be taught. Mr Akyol, an advocate of reconciliation between Muslims and the West who is much in demand at conferences on the future of Islam, is careful to distinguish his position from that of the extravagant publishing venture in his home city. “They make some valid criticisms of Darwinism, but I disagree with most of their other views,” insists the young author, whose other favourite cause is the compatibility between Islam and Western liberal ideals, including human rights and capitalism. But a multi-layered anti-Darwin movement has certainly brought about a climate in Turkey and other Muslim countries that makes sure challenges to evolution theory, be they sophisticated or crude, are often well received.
9 Aralık 2007 Pazar
Turkey’s First ID Conference—Accomplished
The first conference bringing Intelligent Design to the attention of the Turkish public took place on Feb 24, 2007, in Istanbul’s second biggest hall, the Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall. An audience of approximately 500 hundred people, which included many university students, scholars, scientists, and journalists, joined the event and listened to the four-hour long program on "The Origin of Life On Earth."First, Mustafa Akyol made an opening speech in which he criticized the mindset of Turkish intellectuals who equate science with materialism without question. In the speeches given by David Berlinski and Paul Nelson, a brief but comprehensive criticism of Darwinism and naturalism was introduced along with a summary of basic Intelligent Design arguments. John Lennox made a broader criticism of scientific materialism and reductionism. The last speaker, Alpaslan Açıkgenç, explained how Islam looks at science, nature and life. The presentations were followed by questions and answers.The speakers, their titles and abstracts are as follows:Mustafa Akyol, “Rethinking the Science-Religion Debate in Turkey”Since the end of the 19th century, Ottoman and Turkish intellectuals were increasingly influenced by “Western science.” And since this science included some materialist teachings which contradicted the traditional beliefs and values of Turkish society, a conflict developed over time between the “Westernized elite” and the “traditional believers.” However there was something that the “Westernized elite” were not aware of: Some of the views they have embraced as “science” were in fact nothing but philosophical beliefs. This became apparent with the decline of positivism. And moreover, the scientific fidings of the past decades have started to turn against those very philosophical beliefs that was once seen as “scientific.” There now is the time to reconsider the science-religion debate in Turkey.Dr. David Berlinski, “Where Darwin Went Wrong”Charles Darwin completed his masterpiece, On the Origin of Species, in 1859. At once, the theory that is introduced became popular. One hundred years later, it was widely celebrated as an outstanding success. Thereafter, the time of troubles began. For the past forty years, the great global vision that Darwin introduced into biology has been dying by degrees. Critics and skeptics have never been satisfied with Darwin’s theory. Mathematicians have been especially dubious. But now even the biologists have begun to read those alarming medical reports with a heightened sense of concern. At least five fatal maladies are converging on Darwin’s theory. In the first place, the theory makes no sense. Either it collapses into triviality or it invokes a force with no known cognate to the forces of physics. In the second place, the theory lacks for confirmation from the historical record. In the third place, it lacks for confirmation both from laboratory experiments and research into natural selection in the wild. In the fourth place, the theory cannot be simulated by means of computer algorithms. If the simulation honestly uses Darwinian principles, it does not work; and if it works, it does not use Darwinian principles. And in the fifth and final place, the theory has never been defended in terms that make mathematical sense.Dr. Paul Nelson, “Intelligent Design in Biology”Intelligent Design (ID), viewed broadly, is the study of patterns in nature that are best explained as the result of intelligence. Within the sciences of biology, ID theorists see strong indicators (evidence) of intelligent causes, such as the information stored in DNA, the molecular machines of the cell, and the higher-level functional properties of organisms. Since Darwin’s time, however, most biologists have argued that organisms should be understood, not as designed, but as the products of randomly-arising variations and natural selection. However many at patterns of evidence from cellular machinery and genomics are best explained, not by any evolutionary theory, but by design. Thus ID holds great promise for the future of biological science.Dr. John Lennox, “Reductionism in Science and Ethics”The science-religion debate is about the status of the universe. The ethics debate is about the status of morality, the bioethics debate in particular being about the status of human life. Contemporary science in the West is dominated by a materialistic/naturalistic reductionism that is increasingly being used not only to undermine the traditional theistic base for ethics but to suggest that science can provide a replacement for it. This means that the science-religion debate has increasing relevance for the much broader ethics debate and therefore for society as a whole. The object of the lecture is therefore to discuss the intellectual validity of such reductionism within the wider context of the science and religion debate.Dr. Alpaslan Açıkgenç, “Science, Nature and Life According to Islam”Islam attaches importance to science. In the first century of Islam, while Muslims were not practicing any science at all, it is possible to see the existence of a developed and curious scientific mindset. Thanks to the penetration of this scientific mindset to society, Muslims were able to excel in all areas of science and surpass other societies in this regard. The words used in the Qur’an such as “earth,” “universe” or “world” can be seen as synonymous with “nature.” However this term, originating from Greek philosophy, refers to an active entity, whereas “nature” in the Islamic sense is more passive. In other words, it is something “created.” The Qur’an also tells that life itself is created. Hence it gives life a meaning and explains that it has a purpose.The conference was sponsored by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality , which is headed Kadir Topbaş, a member of the incumbent conservative AK Party. (Hence it can be said that the event had official support.) Moreover, about a dozen local mayors in different municipalities within the Istanbul region have sent telegraphs of congratulations to the conference. A few months ago, Turkey’s Minister of Education, Hüseyin Çelik, had argued for Intelligent Design on a popular TV program. The conference made its way to the Turkish media and mainstream newspapers such as Sabah and Radikal.Writer : Mustafa AkyolThis event will indeed be the first of a series of conferences focused on science, philosophy and religion. Theh next event, which is tentatively titled “Does Science Challenge Atheism?”, will be held in May this year.
Intelligent Design in Turkey: Up-and-coming
"Intelligent Design (ID), a more recent argument about life's origins that is championed by U.S. Christian groups, may also be making the leap across the Atlantic. ID says some organisms are too complex to have evolved without some superior cause, but avoids calling that cause God because that would ban it from U.S. science textbooks. [Mustafa] Akyol, a Muslim believer who says Darwinism is incompatible with his faith, has been waging an uphill struggle to popularize ID here. But most Turks show no interest because they see no need to avoid naming God. His lonely campaign got an unexpected boost last month when Education Minister Huseyin Celik hinted on television that he might want to see it added to Turkish textbooks."If it's wrong to say Darwin's theory should not be in the books because it is in line with atheist propaganda, we can't disregard intelligent design because it coincides with beliefs of monotheistic religions about creation," he told CNN Turk."Yes, ID is making progress in Turkey — and this is only the beginning!Posted by Mustafa Akyol at 5:22 PM Comments (0) Writer : Mustafa Akyol
Nature Probes 'Islam and Science'
Some Islamic thinkers are reaching out to the West in surprising ways. The prominent Turkish writer and columnist Mustafa Aykol has creationist views and publishes translations of US proponents of intelligent design. He has been building alliances with US faith-based groups such as the Discovery Institute in Seattle, Washington state. In an article for the US National Review last year he wrote: "Intelligent Design can be a bridge between these two civilizations. Muslims are discovering that they share a common cause with believers in the West."Well, my surname is "Akyol", not "Aykol," I am not a creationist (ID is not creationism), and I haven't published any translations so far, but that's all OK. It is good to see that Nature is taking a note of the universality of the argument from design (for God) and the cross-cultural implications of the modern theory of Intelligent Design.Nick Matzke, whom I recently debated, is also quoted in the news story. Mr. Matzke finds it "peculiar that Muslims are adopting a doctrine from US groups that regularly bash Islam in a fairly vicious way," by referring to the "American conservatives" who support ID. He actually said something very similar in our debate and this is how I responded to that:Of course believers in different traditions can find common grounds in theism and disagree in other things, especially on political issues. To deny that is like saying, "hey, some Christians who don't like Islam believe in God; so Muslims should not believe in God." Moreover, the parallelism that Mr. Matzke tries to create between "Islam bashers" and "Darwin bashers" is simply not true. First, the ID movement is not a "group of conservative evangelicals" (there are many Catholics there, such as Michael Behe, the number one theorist of ID.) Second, "conservative evangelicals" are not necessarily anti-Islamic. Actually anti-Islamic ideologues in the US are few in number and you can't put all of them into a single faith category. Third, "Bush administration's policies in the Middle East" is again a broad category, ranging from the Iraqi War to promoting democracy with peaceful means. We should also note that some of most die-hard hawks in Washington, such as the Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, are fierce opponents of Intelligent Design. There is no correlation between the attitude towards Islam and the attitude towards ID.Actually what I have personally observed is the exact opposite of what Mr. Maztke is trying to portray. The Christians and Jews in the ID movement are interested in and respectful to Islam, because they see that the real trouble in the modern world is materialism and Islam is on the same side with them in the stance against the arrogant proponents of this philosophy."Islam bashing" is definitely a grave problem in the West, which I am trying to do something about. Yet "conservative bashing" would be yet another mistake.Writer : Mustafa Akyol
Turkish Minister Supports Intelligent Design
In a recent TV debate on the Turkish educational system, the country's Minister of Education, Mr. Hüseyin Çelik**, argued in favor of intelligent design and for incorporating the theory into Turkish high school biology textbooks. The debate was aired on CNNTurk* on 17 October 2006, on the popular TV show Tarafsiz Bölge (Neutral Zone), which is hosted by the trendy Turkish journalist Ahmet Hakan Coskun. During the 2.5 hour-long program, the minister was challenged by another leading journalist, Ismet Berkan, who has previously argued for Darwinism and against ID in his columns. Berkan contended that the vague reference to "creation" in Turkish biology textbooks as an alternative to Darwinian evolution should be omitted, since it presents faith, not science. Minister Çelik responded by pointing that the idea of creation is not necessarily based on religious texts and that it can be based solely on objective evidence and the latter is what Turkish textbooks refer to. Moreover he gave a brief description of ID, by quoting an op-ed piece of mine — that was, interestingly enough, published in the newspaper that Mr. Berkan edits (Radikal) — and argued that it should be in Turkish textbooks as an alternative theory to Darwinian evolution. The 15-min discussion between Minister Çelik and Mr. Berkan is available here in audio, albeit only in Turkish. So, watch out. ID might become a part of science standards soon in unexpected places! Writer : Mustafa Akyol
