The Collapse of Darwinism in Europe

48:29

11 Jun 2011

Evolution

This long video from the Harun Yahya group depicts what it suggests is the refutation of Darwinian (biological) evolution across Europe.

The framing of the presentation is interesting — this is not presented as the success of various forms of creationism, or even the change in scientific views of biological evolution, but a political, militaristic attack on Charles Darwin in addition to his ideas.  The perspective conflates “Darwinism” with “materialism” and therefore with “Marxism”, suggesting that “evolutionists” and “Marxists/communists” are the same.  This makes clear that the video is not trying to present a scientific perspective, but a political one, with polling data presented prominently, rather than ideas of scientists or religious thinkers.  Without explicitly stating it, there is a clear construction that “Islam” which is presented as ‘shaping a new Europe”, rejects evolution.

The presentation uses a fast-paced cutting between images, dates, and text to create connections between disparate and often untrue statements.  (See the evaluation below.)  The basic suggestion is that Harun Yahya’s Atlas of Creation (2007) changed people’s views.  Clippings from Germany, Switzerland, the United States, France suggest that the Atlas shocked recipients.  The clippings presented are entirely from 2007, suggesting the undated video is from early 2008.

The Qurʾān is quoted primarily at the end, citing several verses, 17:81 (repeated twice); 21:18; 61:8-9.

This video is often clipped into individual countries.  For those who wish to look at the material from individual countries, here is an index:  Introduction (beginning-5:15), France (5:20-15:10), Belgium (15:15-19:30), Great Britain (20:00-23:30), Germany (23:45-26:00), Russia (26:30-28:15), Switzerland (28:20-29:20), Holland (29:35-30:40), Denmark (30:50-33:30), Poland (33:40-35:20), Ireland (35:30-35:55), Spain (36:05-37:00), Serbia (37:20-37:40), Italy (37:55-39:10), Polls about creationism (39:40-45:35), conclusion (45:40-end)

Evaluation:

The material on Islam is within the bounds of what Muslims have historically understood as acceptable.  It should be noted that not all Muslims reject evolution, nor are all evolutionary biologists atheists.

Science is not made based on opinion polls.  Theories of biological evolution do not rest on Charles Darwin’s ideas alone, but rather have been confirmed and augmented by scientists for more than a hundred years.  It should be noted that some of the popular press articles presented in the video are not agreeing with the Atlas of Creation, but rather are marveling that an organization could afford to send out such a big, luxurious book free to so many recipients. The “facts” presented in the Atlas have been debunked in many places.  See this video by Richard Dawkins, for an example.

There is insufficient historical material on which to base an evaluation.  However, we might note that since 2008, evolutionary theory continues to be the recognized basis of biology.