In “Does Islam Stand Against Science?” (June 19, 2011), Steve Paulson tells us that
We may think the charged relationship between science and religion is mainly a problem for Christian fundamentalists, but modern science is also under fire in the Muslim world. Islamic creationist movements are gaining momentum, and growing numbers of Muslims now look to the Quran itself for revelations about science.
Interesting how doubting Darwin in the Muslim world if evidence of lack of advance in science, just as it is in the scientifically backward United States. (Scientists who doubt Darwin, for whatever reason, are just ignoramuses, of course.)
“If evolution gets associated with atheism, you could alienate an entire generation of Muslims,” says Salman Hameed, a native of Pakistan who directs the new Center for the Study of Science in Muslim Societies, at Hampshire College.
So how does he propose to account for the 78% of evolutionary biologists who are “pure naturalists” (no God and no free will)?
Darwinism has already proved controversial. A prominent British imam in East London received death threats this year after delivering a lecture at his mosque about evolution. His offense? Saying there’s no conflict between Darwinian theory and Islam.
That, of course, is an absurd statement, but the principle problem here is that he isn’t free to just make it, and be ignored.
The Islam for Darwin movement is, predictably, sponsored by the Templeton Foundation.
See also: Christian Darwinists attempt to douse doubt in Turkey