theory of evolution in schools this year, saying it left many questions unanswered and was at best "dogmatic," Serbian media reported Wednesday, September 8.
The Cabinet of Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica backed the decision of Education Minister Ljiljana Colic that the teaching of evolution can only resume if it shares the same billing with creationism, the school of thought that the earth and its species were "created."
Unlike evolutionists, many scientists supporting creationism believe that God created the current earth as described in the Bible in six days, although some only recognize a Creator, whatever that may be.
The government said it wanted to throw Darwin out as the "accumulated scientific knowledge on the origin and development of man is full of voids".
"DOGMATIC" THEORY
"(Darwinism) is a theory as dogmatic as the one which says God created the first man," said Minister Colic in an interview with daily Glas Javnosti. Darwin launched the theory of evolution in 1859. It includes expressing the development of human beings from species comparable to apes over the course of millions of years.
Although Darwin reportedly expressed his doubts about the theory at the end of his life, several scientists still consider it as evidence how species developed under the influence of their environment.
Serbia’s – turn away from evolution drew therefore a fierce reaction from the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts member and a Belgrade University professor of biology, Dragoslav Marinkovic. "The Darwin theory was accepted by all, apart from the most primitive countries. It is an absurd and unwise decision which will turn us into the laughing stock of the world," he told Glas Javnosti. "I believe experts abroad will ask whether it is possible that a European country is returning to the medieval ages.
PRIEST NOT APPALLED
Serbian Orthodox Church influenced decision to ban evolution theory from schools, critics say.
Source: City of Belgrade/Serbian Orthodox Church.
However, some church leaders were pleased. "I’m not at all appalled", a priest, Nenad Ilic, told the Blic news paper. "What’s worth from Darwin will remain, but his evolutionist theory should not be insisted upon," he said. The move to ban evolutionism from the classroom would have been unthinkable only a few years ago when Serbia was still seen as a Communist-run entity.
Religion was not taught in the school system of communist Yugoslavia and was introduced to Serbian classrooms after socialist strongman Slobodan Milosevic was toppled in 2000.
Balkan commentators said the decision shows the growing influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the leading denomination in the former Yugoslav republic, and its close ties to the conservative prime minister. Belgrade University biology lecturer Nikola Tucic called the education minister’s ruling a "disaster."
"This is outrageous … We are slowly turning into a theocratic state and in the 21st century we are going back to the Book of Revelations," Tucic told Glas Javnosti, referring to the final section of the Christian Bible. "This was a political decision which clearly shows the church is not minding its own business, but is deep into politics," he reportedly said.
CHURCH-RUN STATE
However Minister Colic denied suggestions she wanted to create a church-run state by insisting that children should both learn evolutionism and creationism.
"Both theories exist in parallel and legitimately in the rest of the world," Colic said. "The evolutionist, which says man is descended from the ape, and the one which says God Almighty created man and the entire world."
It comes amid a discussion in the United States where courts have quashed repeated attempts by Christians to have the teaching of evolution banned from schools or countered by lessons in creationism. Kansas scrubbed all mention of evolution and Big Bang theory from its curriculum in 1999, but does not ban their teaching.
A non scientific Internet poll of the U.S. news network MSNBC showed that 28 percent of those participating in it said that "alternatives to evolutionary theory should be given equal weight in science textbooks." However more than half of the respondents (54 percent) argued that "alternatives should not be mentioned in science textbooks," the network claimed.
