Harvard University, one of the world’s leading centers
for scientific research, has established that creationism is becoming
increasingly more powerful in the world and that the global center for
this is the work of the Science Research Foundation (BAV). The latest
edition of the book The Creationists, from Scientific Creationism
to Intelligent Design devotes a special section to the work of
the BAV in setting out the fact of creation. The section in question
is summarized as follows in a report headed “Creation Museums
and the Rise of Global Creationism:”
...
An unusual phenomenon that seems to be popping up a lot
lately—the creation museum. America's first one is set to open
this spring in Petersburg, Kentucky. The $26.4 million facility boasts
animatronic dinosaurs and a state-of-the-art SFX theater, all designed
to convince visitors that God created the world exactly as it’s
described in the Bible.
And it's not just in the US. Like everything these days,
creationism is going global, as evidenced by a campaign to open small
creation museums across Turkey (a typical one, located in an Istanbul
kebab shop, greets visitors with a portrait of Charles Darwin framed
in dripping blood). Matt Mossman reports in this month's issue of
SEED Magazine:
“In its latest campaign, BAV [Bilim Arastirma
Vakfi, or "Scientific Research Foundation"] has opened more
than 80 "museums" in restaurants, malls, and city halls
across Turkey, each stocked with fossils, posters, and eager volunteers.
Oktar's disciples use tactics cribbed from US organizations like California's
Institute for Creation Research, instructing passersby that evolution
cannot explain biology's complexity and is against the word of God.”
BAV runs quite a sophisticated operation, as evidenced
by its website, which, according to Mossman, offers downloadable Power
Point presentations and questions with which students can challenge
their evolution-loving science teachers. And the affinity with US
creationists isn't mere coincidence--a BAV spokesman traveled to the
US last year to testify in the Kansas Board of Education's intelligent
design hearings. Beyond the US and Turkey, creationist movements in
Britain and Australia (where they seem to be particularly strong)
suggest a growing global trend.
For some time, the standard account of the rise of global
creationism has been Ronald Numbers's The Creationists:
From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design. In November,
HUP will publish an expanded edition of this classic, which tracks
the development of creationist thinking over the centuries. Two new
chapters chronicle the intelligent design movement and the new thrust
of global creationism, which we can see at work in the examples above.
...
