More Trouble in Northern Ireland

Sophie Deboick writes for the Guardian that the young earth creation groups in Ireland are creating controversy. In her editorial, Creationist Claims in Northern Ireland, she retells the tale of Nelson McCausland's letter to the National Museum asking them to restyle their exhibits to include creationism. It now seems he did not act alone:

However, shortly after the letter was made public, the Caleb Foundation, a group which "promotes the fundamentals of the historic evangelical Protestant faith", revealed that it had previously met the minister to discuss the presentation of evolution in the Ulster Museum's nature zone exhibits. They called this "wholly misleading propaganda" and claimed they were responsible for the content of the minister's letter.

The Caleb Foundation the went on the offensive:

In an attempt to intensify the controversy, the Caleb Foundation announced last week that they had met with tourism minister Arlene Foster to discuss the new visitor centre proposed for the Giant's Causeway. Mervyn Storey had already criticised the information boards at the Causeway, which state that the rock formation is 60m years old, conflicting with the creationist belief that the Earth was created 6,000 years ago, and the chairman of the foundation, Wallace Thompson, said "All we are asking for is that the views that we hold, which are based on the word of God, are at least respected and taken on board".

This is similar to the attempts made in the US to grant creationism and ID credence in the schools. Here it is the "academic freedom," "teach the controversy," or "learn the full range of scientific views" buzz words that people use to attract people to the cause. The point, as alluded to by Ms. Deboick is, why should we take these ideas on board? They have no merit scientifically and it would be inappropriate to place them in science museums. That one third of the population in Ireland believe that the earth was created six thousand years ago is beside the point. A whole bunch of people also think that Elvis is still alive. That doesn't make it so.

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British Biologists on the Offensive

The Telegraph has a story that follows on the heels of the flap over in Ireland about the museum displays and the school choice debate in England, in which a group of biologists have signed a letter urging the teaching of evolution in primary schools. Martin Beckford writes:

Experts including three Nobel laureates and Richard Dawkins, the prominent atheist, are calling on the new Government to make teaching of the theory a compulsory part of the curriculum.

They say it is necessary because of the increasing number of schools that do not have to follow the curriculum, and because of the “threat” posed by the religious concept of creationism.

It comes after two proposals to ensure pupils are taught Darwin’s theory of natural selection were dropped, one by Labour and the other by the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition.

The 26 signatories to the letter sent to Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, say they are “deeply concerned that evolution and science form a core part of any revised primary curriculum”.

They wrote: “Evolution is the most important idea underlying biological science. It is a key concept that children should be introduced to at an early stage.

I am not sure I agree. I went to a secular school and, as I remarked over at Steve Martin's blog, did not encounter a young earth creationist until I came to the United States. Nonetheless, I did not have organized teaching on evolution until I reached high school biology and yet had no trouble incorporting it into what I had been taught about biology and botany up until that point. You can teach the relatedness of plants and animals and the structure of the world without necessarily promoting evolution as the proximate cause in primary school.

The other reason I am not sure I agree is that I am especially leery of any curriculum that has Dawkins' stamp on it, simply because he is so anti-religious. Evolution education has to be done in such a way that, unlike what goes on in Christian schools and home school material, there is not a false dichotomy set up, urging students to choose either belief in God or evolution. That would be unconscionable.

On the other hand, I certainly agree that students should not be taught young earth creationism. That is teaching them "Christian folk science" that is demonstrably false. It is also setting them up for a devastating conflict when they do reach university in which their faith will be severely tested.

This is a battleground that is now being fought all over the world, with mixed results. No telling how it will turn out.

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Sinn Fein has Responded to the Culture Minister

In lightning fashion, Sinn Fein, the political arm of the IRA, has responded to the letter by Nelson McCausland urging the Ulster Museum to include more creationism in their displays (see the post just below this one). In the Londonderry Sentinel, they write:

"The fact that a Culture Minister has used undue influence to seek an arms length body, namely the Ulster Museum, to include matters that are issues close to Nelson's personal beliefs, is wholly unacceptable.
"The letter which written specifies a time frame for changes to be made to current installations at the museum before summer including the issue of creationism, which is clearly a religious viewpoint, and more representation for the Orange Order."

Of course, the letter is not entirely devoid of political jabs:

"Nelson McCausland's partisan view of the world is not that of the vast majority nor is it anything to do with a truly shared future. This is a Culture Minister who speaks of a shared future yet has refused to enter a catholic church, has taken part in sectarian parades through nationalist districts in Belfast, has failed to bring forward a strategy for the development of the Irish language, and his department has previously sent out personal invites to Orange fest.

I said it last post. Politics and science don't mix.

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Why Politics and Science Don't Mix

A royal row is brewing over in Ireland where the Culture Minister, Nelson McCausland, has written a letter to the Ulster Museum encouraging them to change their exhibits to include more creationism. As Henry McDonald of the Guardian reports:

Nelson McCausland, who believes that Ulster Protestants are one of the lost tribes of Israel, has written to the museum's board of trustees urging them to reflect creationist and intelligent design theories of the universe's origins.

The Democratic Unionist minister said the inclusion of anti-Darwinian theories in the museum was "a human rights issue".

McCausland defended a letter he wrote to the trustees calling for anti-evolution exhibitions at the museum. He claimed that around one third of Northern Ireland's population believed either in intelligent design or the creationist view that the universe was created about 6,000 years ago.

Richard Dawkins responded typically but correctly:

Dawkins said it was irrelevant if a large number of people in Northern Ireland refused to believe in evolution. "Scientific evidence can't be democratically decided," Dawkins said.

This is similar to the US movement for "academic freedom" bills, although not nearly as extreme. The US is somewhat shielded from this sort of nonsense because of the establishment clause. Apparently, no such thing exists in UK law. Of course the museum could just ignore the letter but the YEC movement is quite strong in Ireland and so I am guessing this is not the last we will hear of this.

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