NCSE Evolution Education Update for 2010/06/11
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2010-06-11 14:15.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear Friends of NCSE, A call for creationism to be taught in Russia is in the news, and a batch of new videos is available at NCSE's YouTube channel.
CREATIONISM IN RUSSIA? A senior official of the Russian Orthodox Church called for the end to the "monopoly of Darwinism" in Russian schools during a recent talk in Moscow, according to Reuters (June 9, 2010). "Darwin's theory remains a theory," Hilarion Alfeyev, the Metropolitan of Volokolamsk and a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow, was quoted as saying. "This means it should be taught to children as one of several theories, but children should know of other theories too." Alfeyev was addressing a group of officials from Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, not education policymakers; Alfeyev is involved in a variety of ecumenical projects internationally and represents the Russian Orthodox Church in Brussels. According to Reuters, his talk was "dedicated to fighting 'fanatical secularism' of liberals hostile to religion, and called for dialogue with moderate secularists and cooperation with Catholics against common foes." The veteran dissident Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a recipient of the European Parliament's 2009 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought for her work with the civil rights group Memorial, described Alfeyev's call for the teaching of "other theories" as "a dangerous idea," vowing, "we will do all we can to stop it." According to Reuters, "She said it was unlikely religious teaching would replace Darwin in the national curriculum, but it could find its way into some schools with enough pressure from the Church." Poll data about the acceptance of evolution in Russia is mixed: a 2005 poll reportedly found 26% of Russians accepting evolution and 49% accepting creationism, but a 2003 poll reported that 44% agreed with "Human beings are developed from earlier species of animals"), and a 2009 poll reported that 48% of Russians who "know something about Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution" agreed that there was sufficient evidence for the theory. (In comparison, only 41% of Americans agreed.) As for what ought to be taught in the schools, it seems that Alfeyev's proposal might be popular. The same 2009 poll indicated that 53% of Russians agreed with "Evolutionary theories should be taught in science lessons in schools together with other possible perspectives, such as intelligent design and creationism," with 13% preferring that such perspectives be taught instead of evolution; only 10% agreed with "Evolutionary theories alone should be taught in science lessons in schools." Yet despite the lead sentence in the Reuters story, it is unclear whether the Church is endorsing Alfeyev's call. According to Inga Levit, Uwe Hossfeld, and Lennart Olsson, discussing "Creationism in the Russian Educational Landscape" in Reports of the NCSE in 2007, the Russian Orthodox Church "has no officially declared position toward 'scientific creationism' ... [which] plays no significant role in official theological discourse, but unofficially remains a significant part of the Orthodox theological landscape." Levit, Hossfeld, and Olsson also report that creationism in Russia is frequently visible as part of a sectarian project to impose Orthodox views in the public school system. Although Russian Orthodoxy is the dominant religion in Russia (with 63% of the population, according to a 2007 report), there is a significant Muslim minority (6%), as well as a sizable population of non-believers (16%), which might make it unfeasible for the Russian government to capitulate to sectarian proposals to change how evolution is taught. For the report from Reuters, visit: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100609/lf_nm_life/us_russia_religion_darwin For the various polls mentioned, visit: http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1066577.html http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind06/c7/fig07-07.htm http://www.britishcouncil.org/darwin_now_survey_global.pdf http://ncse.com/files/pub/evolution/09-Survey-BritishCouncil-globaleducationDarwineducation-MORIEducationDataTables-FINAL.pdf http://www.religare.ru/2_42432.html NEW VIDEOS FROM NCSE NCSE is pleased to announce that a further batch of videos featuring NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott is now available at NCSE's YouTube channel. There's a nine-part interview with Skepchick.org's Sam Ogden, recorded in September 2009; "Why Darwin Matters," from the Evolutionpalooza celebration sponsored by San Francisco Atheists, recorded in February 2009; and "What's the Fuss About Intelligent Design?" recorded at the University of Washington in May 2006. Tune in and enjoy! For NCSE's YouTube channel, visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/NatCen4ScienceEd Thanks for reading! And don't forget to visit NCSE's website -- http://ncse.com -- where you can always find the latest news on evolution education and threats to it. -- Sincerely, Glenn Branch Deputy Director National Center for Science Education, Inc. 420 40th Street, Suite 2 Oakland, CA 94609-2509 510-601-7203 x310 fax: 510-601-7204 800-290-6006 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com Subscribe to NCSE's free weekly e-newsletter: http://groups.google.com/group/ncse-news NCSE is on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd http://twitter.com/ncse NCSE's work is supported by its members. Join today! http://ncse.com/membership
» 4469 reads
