Well, it took me some time to post this on this blog — who said I have a good sense of time – but down below is comment from me in the “Year of Darwin” special file of the Nature magazine, dated Nov 2008. (Read here, or download the PDF right here.) The cartoon above, meanwhile, is Nature’s nice piece of artwork that supplemented the file, and the funny fellow at the left end seems to be me.
Mustafa Akyol, Columnist for the Turkish Daily News and blogger for The White Path:
One thing I would really like to see is de- ideologization of Darwinism. By that, I mean the separation of Darwinism and some of the philosophies, atheism in particular, that are advanced by using this theory.
If Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett proclaim that their atheism is a matter of philosophical choice, not a direct outcome of “science,” and particularly Darwinian evolution, that would be a major sign that this is happening. But I am not holding my breath. I would rather expect to see more from scientists who think that evolution is compatible with their theistic faith.
A good example would be Simon Conway Morris, who thinks that evolution follows a pattern that points to a meaningful, not a meaningless, Universe. In many countries, including Turkey where I live, such views are hardly known. Neither is Darwin’s comment on life on Earth as being “breathed by the Creator.” If the Year of Darwin helps in dis- covering this often neglected side of the great naturalist, it will be a big achievement.
“In many countries, including Turkey where I live, such views are hardly known.”
Is that the same country where The God Delusion was put on trial, where Richard Dawkins’ and other atheist websites are banned, where the Scientific Council (TÜBITAK) managed to censor Charles Darwin off their magazine, where all television channels seem to think they are obliged to validate the Quran whenever they discuss a scientific topic, where people who believe that Adam wrestled with gigantic dinosaurs can become biology professors (Irfan Yilmaz) and people who think they’ve refuted the evolution theory by claiming “no man can evolve from a snake” are allowed to write biology books for high school students (Turan Güven)?
Are we talking about the same country?