The Darwinian Inquisition begins

Ben W. sends more amazing material on the Council of Europe’s campaign to suppress disagreement with Darwinism, based on the view that such disagreement is a threat to human rights. Which obviously implies that the next step will be to treat anti-Darwinism as “incitement to hatred” and punish it as a criminal offense.

Living in advanced liberal society is not for sissies.

Ben writes:

The EU finds creationism positively dangerous to the development of society:

Creationism supporters endorse “a radical return to the past which could prove particularly harmful in the long term for all our societies,” the report said.

Creationism is also a dangerous American export:

The report said creationism, a belief that a supreme being created life and the universe, was “an almost exclusively American phenomenon” but some of its tenets had migrated to Europe.

Full EU report here (excellent reading).

See points #12 and #17 linking creationism with extremism and the threat of imposition of theocracy:

12. The war on the theory of evolution and on its proponents most often originates in forms of religious extremism which are closely allied to extreme right-wing political movements. The creationist movements possess real political power. The fact of the matter, and this has been exposed on several occasions, is that the advocates of strict creationism are out to replace democracy by theocracy.

This political threat must be stopped before it is too late:

17. Investigation of the creationists’ growing influence shows that the arguments between creationism and evolution go well beyond intellectual debate. If we are not careful, the values that are the very essence of the Council of Europe will be under direct threat from creationist fundamentalists. It is part of the role of the Council’s parliamentarians to react before it is too late.

Darwinian evolution is to be termed scientifically “fundamental”:

18.5. Promote the teaching of evolution by natural selection as a fundamental scientific theory in the school curriculum.

In short, this document is a wonderfully detailed plan and agenda for the future of European education and social policy. The EU has made it explicit and there is no retreat from this line of demarcation.

Ben continues:

The Council of Europe report on evolution stresses the fact that the theory of evolution is not strictly a story about origins. It has social and political ramifications:

10. Evolution is not simply a matter of the evolution of humans and of populations. Denying it could have serious consequences for the development of our societies. Advances in medical research with the aim of effectively combating infectious diseases such as AIDS are impossible if every principle of evolution is denied. One cannot be fully aware of the risks involved in the significant decline in biodiversity and climate change if the mechanisms of evolution are not understood.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at October 08, 2007 01:23 PM | Send