Looks like we're exporting something new to Europe.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080209/...n_under_attack

Curious from our European readers if this is a real issue out there or if the media here is making a big deal.

The U.K. (and, I assume, Ireland) are special, because of the common language. It's very easy and fast for ideas to cross the ocean in English.

This is not to say that the temptation is not there in other countries, too. The current pope sometimes makes ambivalent statements which to the cynical (like myself) can sound like veiled winks at creationism. But he has not dared to challenge evolution directly so far. At least not in Europe. Maybe such innuendo is more directed at his American "base".

__________________
"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire.
"All your bias are belong to us" Ara Pacis.

if these creationists are quoting Churchill, then they start off with Godwin's law.

__________________

We have American style religionists here in Australia, but they are viewed with deep suspicion by the bulk of the population as they lie. But estabished christian churches here do seem to be coming out with odder stuff, probably due to a combination of U.S. influence and a result of normal people leaving churches leaving behind the less sane.

Long time since I was in school over here in the UK but wasn't it taught as best info to date rather than fact (as per the claim in the link)?

The link to Churchill is interesting because I do not recall being at war with the creationism theory. So far for me, it is what some people choose to believe. I think they are wrong but its a big world and there is plenty of room for us all.

Does sound like a chip on the shoulder but maybe that is me. Personally I cannot see it getting that much of a following. There are comments occasionally in the press of regular church attendance dropping that is not to say belief is dropping. Personally I am not a believer in any so really not in a position to speak for all. Not against beliefs I might add.

The theme park would, I assume, would not do to well unless there are some good rides. Just an observation of the population with X Boxes "want it now" attitude.

That about sums it up.

__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
"The Mayan symbol for "book" looks a lot like a triple hamburger, but I've never seen them claiming it as proof the Mayans had Big Macs." - KaiYeves
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

If they're expecting to make headway in the birthplace of modern geology and evolutionary theory, they're going be sorely disappointed.

__________________
"Call me old-fashioned, but I think fire is magic. And it scares me a lot."

--The State

Well, actually, they have made headway.

In Britain these days we have a concept called a City Academy, which is a [high] school that is a kind of public/private partnership - the private partner puts some money in and in return gets some say over what goes on there. Near Newcastle-upon-Tyne is Emmanuel College Gateshead that has been part funded by a very wealthy creationist, Sir Peter Vardy, owner of a large chain of car dealerships, and has succeeded in putting such concepts into the curriculum. Standard science is also taught, they wouldn't do very well if pupils failed science exams.

Curiously, in this land of Richard Dawkins and very little Sunday observance, religious [high and primary] schools are mostly quite popular, well, Christian and Jewish ones at least, because they mostly have exceedingly good discipline and results. A lot of people seem suddenly to find religion when it comes to placing their children in schools. Apparently my sister's child was baptised yesterday for just such a reason (she is estranged from the father, whose initiative this was). Emmanuel College Gateshead actually has quite a level of local support for just these reasons.

Rather old source, but its what I found in a hurry:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus...668840,00.html

He has also part-funded the Kings Academy in Middlesbrough, which is doing reasonably well (not to be confused with the Unity Academy which was put into special measures.) But not is going well for Vardy's plans. Parents in some areas have successfully campaigned to refuse his money.

http://newhumanist.org.uk/1477

I have lost all faith in the British public, to be honest with you, and am no longer surprised by the creeping influence of creationism. The recent overreaction the the Archbishop of Canterbury's remarks on Sharia law show that we are as a nation shamefully ignorant and reactionary.

British people are no better than Americans in terms of forming an informed opinion. They make up their minds about what is true based on rhetoric and appeals to emotion. Why shouldn't they hop on the next train to the dark ages in the same way that (some) yanks have?

I'm toying with the idea of leaving the country when I graduate. The only reason not to is my fiancee is qualified to teach here, and would have to retrain to work in another country.

__________________
"I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive." - Carl Sagan, 1995

Last week, the minister of the environment here was caught making creationist statements. Among other things, she´s responsible for the management of the Amazon.

She´s been heavily criticized. I hope this is an isolated case. Things like these sound very strange here [and it´s surely an imported good - she´s a, so they say, 'born again' ].

__________________
What brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart

Actually it's a re-export of something that came from here in the first place. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ussher

Where I am (Ireland), I believe its a non issue.

Its a long time since I was in school, but there does not appear to me to be any particular push to re-introduce creationism.

Yeah, in the 1600s. Good to know we have such "modern" ideas here in the U.S.

__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
"The Mayan symbol for "book" looks a lot like a triple hamburger, but I've never seen them claiming it as proof the Mayans had Big Macs." - KaiYeves
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

Well, the Republic of Ireland is Catholic, and AFAIK that denomination has largely avoided the creationist idea thus far. However, the new guy is a bit of a reactionary (coming to the job via the Hitler Youth and the Inquisition, I kid you not) so things could change in the coming years.

__________________
"I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive." - Carl Sagan, 1995

Nominally 92% catholic, true.

Realistically, not really near so much.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...ck=1&cset=true

Related Article