Darwin’s Dangerous Ideas in Turkey

Critics of the theory of evolution often derisively dismiss it as “just a theory.” This mockery signals that evolution is merely no more than a subjective opinion with little or no factual support. This, of course, reflects a fundamental misunderstanding not only about evolution, but also about the meaning of “theory” in science.

Criticisms of the fundamental tenets of evolutionary theory is almost always motivated by religious concerns. This is, of course, unsurprising. By providing a natural explanation of the emergence of all life on earth, the theory is a stab at the heart of the religious worldview. Evolution displaces humankind from our special pedestal in the hierarchy of creation. “Man” is no longer the pinnacle of God’s creation, for what we are today is simply the latest form in an ongoing process of evolution. More significantly, the theory also does away with any need for divine, supernatural, or immaterial beings to explain the existence of life. This cements a foundation for a materialist worldview, where reality is limited to the tangible. There is no world beyond our material reality.

Many authors have commented about the Christian response to Darwin’s dangerous ideas, as the philosopher Daniel Dennit has put it. But how has the Muslim world reacted to Darwin’s ideas? Below, I paraphrase an illuminating article by Taner Edis (2009) on how evolutionary theory has been received in Turkey.

When Darwin’s “Origin of Species” was published in England, much of the Muslim world was under the rule of a decaying Ottoman Empire. Believing that science was a major factor in Europe’s success, some Western-educated muslim intellectuals saw Darwin’s theory as part-and-parcel of Western scientific progress. Some even saw evolution as confirming their views that religious dogma stands in the way of progress towards modernity (Edis, 2009).

Such receptive views, however, were in the minority (Edis, 2009). Most intellectuals in the last years of the Ottoman Empire were keen to import Western science and technology, but they were also anxious to maintain an Islamic identity and culture. For the most part, this meant the adoption of science and technology that are purified from secular, materialist ideas. Because the theory of evolution is arguably one of the cornerstones of a materialist philosophy, even Muslims who hold favorable views toward science find the theory unacceptable. This sentiment was common among intellectual elites as well as the general population.

In the 1920s, the fall of the Ottoman Empire brought the birth of a modern, secular Turkey (Edis, 2009). The founding leadership established a secular education system which included instruction in the natural sciences, including evolutionary biology. For roughly the next five decades, objections towards evolution theory were subdued, becoming only a minor part of an underground opposition towards the secular state ideology. This started to change in the mid 1970s, when an Islamist party became a junior partner in a number of governments. Politicians from the party voiced objections to the teaching of evolution in textbooks and curriculum.

Major changes occurred in the mid 1980s, after a temporary military take over of the government (Edis, 2009). The military leadership championed a culturally conservative ideas and agendas over left-leaning, progressive ones. When the constitution was amended under military watch, one of the changes was to introduce compulsory religious education in the curriculum.

After the military dictatorship ended in the early 1990s, the government (including the education ministry) was run by religious conservatives who, for the first time, officially endorsed creationism as an alternative to evolution (Edis, 2009). Since that time, religious doctrines about creation were included in the curriculum and many science textbooks. In the same period, a modern, well-funded and media-savvy movement began to popularize creationism and hostility towards evolutionary theory. “Harun Yahya” was a pseudo-name who became the brand for this pseudo-science movement.

This bit of history explains why rejection of evolution is intellectually acceptable in the Muslim context. In the Muslim world, the theory of evolution was never fully understood nor accepted. More generally, the notion of a secular science – one that operates beyond or uninfluenced by religious guidance – was also never accepted. This is different to the West, where although a large proportion of the population may reject evolution (such as in the US), such a view goes against cultural establishment. Hence, whereas in the West religious doctrines about creation assume the place as the cultural underdogs, the reverse is true for the Muslim context. Even in Turkey – currently the most secularized Muslim majority nation – it is difficult to publicly endorse Darwinian evolution.

All of this makes we wonder why there have been little objection to the teaching of evolutionary theory in schools in Indonesia. Or is it just a matter of time?

Reference: Edis, T. (2009). Modern science and conservative Islam: An uneasy relationship. Science & Education, 18, 885-903.

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