Get Thou Behind Me, Science

See, even GoogleEarth knows evolution is a big fib.

If you were possessed of a name like Yahya, you might go into the business of blaming evolution for terrorism, too.

Of course, I'm serious. Now getting lots of unwarranted attention for his rabid espousal of Islamic creationism, Oktar aka Yahya has created his own crusade against the science of evolution. Why, if it weren't for our silly belief that dinosaurs are extinct, we would probably all be charitable toward each other and world peace would be at hand. Accepting the authority of church leaders has always kept the world quiet and loving, right? Sure.

In a bizarre news conference held aboard a luxury yacht off Istanbul's northern Bosphorus shores near the mouth of the Black Sea, Adnan Oktar, also known by his pen-name Harun Yahya, said the evils of the world were a direct result of Darwinism.

"Communism, fascism, and Freemasons stand on the tenets of Darwinism, and the world power of capitalism stands on the same ... Hitler and Mao were both Darwinists," said Oktar, immaculately dressed in an egg-shell white suit, necktie and sporting a trim beard and combed-back hair.

"We will not deceive ourselves that scientists have a monopoly on truth," he said.
(snip)
Yahya has triggered controversy in France when his lavishly illustrated "Atlas of Creation," which argues that Darwin's theory of evolution is at the root of global terrorism, was mass-mailed unsolicited to educators and libraries there.

France's Education Ministry was baffled and worried by the appearance of thousands of copies of the book, which carries over 700 pages of images comparing fossils with present-day animals to argue that Allah created all life as it is and that evolution never took place.
(snip)
Speculation about the group's financial backers ranges from Turkish Islamists to U.S. Christian activists.

My scaley pet, Fluffy, is convinced, too. While his resemblance to the tyranasaurus rex next door is obscured by his yellow-orangey fur, he tracks down the crickets with coldblooded methodism that leaves no doubt of his reptilian nature. Evolved, never.

And my own terrorist tendencies are buttressed no doubt by the belief that humane treatment of detainees is something we have become capable of by exercise of reason and shared concern for fellow beings. Pardon me while I strap on this laptop and go out to make the rest of you behave like rational creatures. Beware. That science thingie will fool you into pogroms just like Hitler.

(The googled dinosaurs courtesy of http://www.gearthblog.com/images/images2006/dinosaurs.jpg )