ISTANBUL, Turkey — Prestigious scientists and experts from the United States, Europe, and the Middle East came together late last month for the 3rd International Conference on the Origin of Life and the Universe. While there was plenty of diversity in their views, they all agreed on at least one thing: School children should not be subjected to lies or evolution-only propaganda at school.
In the United States, virtually all children in government schools are exposed to only one view on the origin of life: The theory that mankind evolved from a single-celled organism over millions or even billions of years. But as the scientists and experts from around the world demonstrated clearly, there is abundant scientific evidence showing that man was actually created, just as the Scriptures say.
A wide array of scientists — including Evangelical, Catholic, Mormon, and Islamic experts — addressed a broad range of topics related to Creation. In Turkey, efforts to undermine faith in the evolution theory using science have been highly successful. In fact, last year, authorities officially announced that the controversial theory would no longer be pushed on impressionable children in public school.
The experts at the conference made a compelling case. Dr. Fazale Rana, a Christian biochemist who serves as Vice President of Reasons to Believe, for instance, spoke on how the marvelously programmed human genome offers solid evidence of a Creator.
And Dr. David Snoke, president of the Christian Scientific Society and a physics professor at the University of Pittsburgh, noted that engineers already use design principles in their work.
Also speaking was Dr. Bijan Nemati, an Iranian-born scientist at the University of Alabama-Huntsville who converted to Christianity from Islam and used to work as a senior engineer in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In his speech, he highlighted how perfect the earth was for humanity — and how improbably that would be, unless a Creator designed it all.
And Dr. Oktar Babuna, a Muslim neurosurgeon from Turkey trained in the United States, said science totally debunks Darwin’s theories.
Presenting his understanding of Genesis was Dr. Ken Keathley, professor of theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. While he had many friends and colleagues who hold to a young-earth view — as did some at the conference — Keathley argued for an old-earth understanding of Creation.
Anna Manja Larcher, a Mormon who holds a Master’s degree in theoretical psychology, used her speech to suggest that the evolutionary paradigm cannot possibly explain the human mind. She compared efforts to fit everything into the evolutionary view to the infamous Procrustean bed.
And Dr. Hans Koechler, the former chair of political philosophy at Innsbruck University in Austria, explained his views on cooperation between the monotheistic religions in a globalized world.
Most of the American speakers who spoke with this writer at the conference said they had homeschooled their children. But several of them told FreedomProject Media that it was still important for public schools in America to quit pretending like the evolution theory is the only — or even the correct — scientific explanation for life, the universe, and mankind. In fact, they all agreed that the evidence shows the evolution theory is wrong.
One especially interesting speaker, Fabrizio Fratus, an Italian sociologist and one of that nation’s leading creationists, spent much of his time going through proven lies that are still used in school textbooks today — deceptions such as the phony drawings created by Ernst Haeckel. The fraud may succeed in convincing gullible children to believe in the evolution theory, but it is unethical and outrageous to use lies in advancing a dangerous worldview, Fratus said.
The event was organized by the Turkish Technics & Science Research Foundation, the Foundation For the Preservation of National Values, and the National Values Foundation under the Honorary Presidency of Adnan Oktar, widely described as Islam’s leading creationist. It was held at the beautiful Fairmont Quasar Hotel in Istanbul on April 28. In total, there were eight senior speakers from five different countries.
Aside from the moral implications of the evolutionary worldview, there are also serious implications for freedom. America’s mostly Christian Founding Fathers held that the truths of man being created and endowed with inalienable rights by his Creator was “self-evident.” But when children are constantly told that “science” claims they came from slime, suddenly there is no objective value to life — nor is there any external source for human rights.
Children in government schools must have the opportunity to hear non-evolutionary viewpoints. After all, most Americans, who pay the taxes to support the schools, do not accept the theory, according to polls. And the scientific method is increasingly undermining the theory. Schools must quit using deception and indoctrination to manipulate children. The truth can stand on its own.
