Creationism’s not just for Kansas anymore

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.


Seems the anti-evolution backlash isn’t only taking off in Kansas, where state education officials recently knocked evolution off the official curriculum. THE NEW SCIENTIST reports that creationism has become a powerful global force in the last few decades.

The US boasts more creationists per capita than any Western nation. But other countries are catching up. School children are taught creationism in both Queensland, Australia, and Turkey — with translations of American texts, in the latter case. New Zealand’s creationist movement has burgeoned recently from zero to 20 percent of the population, and many Russian state universities teach the anti-Darwin “theory.”

Great Britain is home to the Creation Science Movement, which has perhaps the most creative denunciation of evolution. A public exhibition by the 2000-member group asks the compelling question, “If life could arise on its own from a primeval soup, why don’t we find bacteria when we open a tin of soup?” (Give that tin of soup a few million years, and you just might.)

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY...

Trump is clamping down on the media—using lawsuits, lies, intimidation, and a thuggish Federal Communications Commission. Corporate media are caving, but Mother Jones won’t back down. To help us stand strong, a generous board member has chipped in a $50,000 digital matching gift. Help us make the most of it!

Every contribution through September 30 will be matched dollar-for-dollar.

We have nearly 50 years of experience standing up to bullies. Government intimidation, nuisance lawsuits, threats to our nonprofit status—we’ve seen it all. Yet because we’re supported by a community of readers like you, we’re still here and still reporting like hell. Please stand with us. Every dollar you give will go twice as far.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY...

Trump is clamping down on the media—using lawsuits, lies, intimidation, and a thuggish Federal Communications Commission. Corporate media are caving, but Mother Jones won’t back down. To help us stand strong, a generous board member has chipped in a $50,000 digital matching gift. Help us make the most of it!

Every contribution through September 30 will be matched dollar-for-dollar.

We have nearly 50 years of experience standing up to bullies. Government intimidation, nuisance lawsuits, threats to our nonprofit status—we’ve seen it all. Yet because we’re supported by a community of readers like you, we’re still here and still reporting like hell. Please stand with us. Every dollar you give will go twice as far.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate