Looking for signs of evolution
American bloggers have been aflutter over the arrival there of an 800-page monster of a book, The Atlas of Creation by a Turkish Islamist Adnan Oktar (going by the name of Harun Yahya). It is an Islamist attack on Darwinism, and an argument in favour of the idea that animals haven’t actually changed in the millions of years since God put them here. The tome landed in The Irish Times in March, slumping on my desk for the few minutes it took me to realise that while it might be ornate, colourful and superficially impressive it was proof only that the Islamic world can be prone to just as much pseudo-scientific, theological hokum as the Christian West.
Examining the fossil record, we see that living things are exactly the same today as they were hundreds of millions of years ago—in other words, that they never underwent evolution … This demonstrates one indisputable fact: Living things did not come into being through the imaginary processes of evolution. All the living things that have ever existed on Earth were created by God.
Yahya sent out thousands of copies to scientists and journalists, but what rational mind could possibly be attracted by such intellectually substantial gaudiness?
Step forward Kevin Myers. In March, he was moved to write two columns about the book.
I have not read the Koran, but - like the Bible or the Torah - I would have thought it an improbable document upon which to base an assault on Darwin’s theories about the origins of species.
However, the author, who is a Muslim, is also a scientist: and it is in the scientific realm that his arguments against Darwinism are, for me anyway, most telling.
Actually, Yahya doesn’t confirm that he’s a qualified scientist, but why should that get in the way? Nor that his motive was to concentrate on “proving the invalidity of this deception that for more than a century had turned people away from religious moral values”. That’s a solid scientific foundation.
You can now find Myers’ thoughts on Yahya’s own website here. You can also read about some of Yahya’s other works, such as how environmental catastophres are the results of blasphemy; or what heaven will be like (quite good, apparently).
And then you might want to seek out a column last week in which Myers asked why a “secular-Christian” society should allow continued immigration of Muslims:
What rational justification is there for enlarging our Islamic population? What is it? Go on, what is it?
He’s been welcoming to one member of that population at least.
My guess is that Myers thinks he’s being very clever, by putting it up to his many imagined liberal critics to choose between their opposition to intelligent design theory and their alleged touch-feely multi-cultural respect for Islam.
Comment by Fergal | July 24, 2007 at 8:37 pmPerhaps, but it seems a pity that to be so clever means becoming an ally of intellectual buffoonery.
Comment by Shane | July 24, 2007 at 9:18 pmmyers is stunning:
“So how do discrete animal species come about? How does a species diverge so markedly from its parent stock that it is unable to breed with it, not in just one species, but in millions of them, across the world?”
does this man not have an editor? myers is simply telling us that yahya may have a point simply because myers’ own breadth of knowledge on evolution is not developed enough.
i remember wondering about the splitting of species and being puzzled by it. i emailed my geneticist brother and he explained it to me… lucky i didn’t turn to islam like our kev.
Comment by steve k | July 25, 2007 at 11:49 amSteve, What amazes me about his pieces on this subject is that he seems to have largely taken Yahya at his word. He asks these grand questions, but doesn’t seem interested in finding answers outside of this Big Book of Creationism with its strident language and colourful pictures.
Comment by Shane | July 25, 2007 at 1:40 pmFergal makes a good point - and it’s one that suits Myers’ way of thinking… that you can’t possibly respect someone’s culture and disagree with its foundations at the same time.
I’m of the belief that Myers is actually the print equivalent of a troll - his “classic” bastards column in the Irish Times brought me to that conclusion a long time ago.
I can’t recall a single thing of his I’ve read that stood up as a valid argument to any degree and his ‘Watching The Door’ book seemed like a master’s handbook in bullshit too.
Comment by Adam | July 25, 2007 at 9:24 pmAdam, I’d meant to mention your own excellent post picking through Myers’s recent piece on Islam: “How Kevin Myers is the Bill O’Reilly of the Irish media”
Comment by Shane | July 25, 2007 at 10:50 pmHa - thanks.
He actually wrote another piece recently where he calls for all Muslims to be banned from coming to Ireland because they might possibly be terrorists… I decided not to waste my time going through that too as the only people that would think he was right are the ones that don’t follow logical argument.
Comment by Adam | July 26, 2007 at 11:14 amFor some reason, when I read; “Bill O’Reilly” first I thought I’d read “Bill O’Herlihy” which I thought an unnecessary attack on the genial soccer host. Anyway, ahem, just thought I’d share. Carry on….
Comment by Brock Landers | July 26, 2007 at 12:47 pmGoes to show that idiocy spans all faiths.
Comment by Dan Sullivan | July 28, 2007 at 5:34 pmMyers talks sense. Britain is descending into chaos. Muslims are causing mayhem in Sweden.
Comment by Johnny | August 26, 2007 at 6:04 pmSquare water melons and genetically engineered food are samples that once in a while, life is created. Not a proof, but a plausibility.
Comment by Jim Thio | October 10, 2007 at 3:56 pm