Evolution Is a Western Plot: Serbian Intellectuals – Transitions Online

Education minister dismisses plea to teach creationism in schools.

The petition, which was addressed to the Ministry of Education and Science and the parliament, claims there is no scientific evidence for evolution and said "globalists and atheists" were responsible for the acceptance of evolution, writes the U.S. based National Center for Science Education.

Organizers of the petition said they want to challenge the dominant status of Darwinism in schoolbooks and present it alongside other theories of human evolution, RFE/RL says.

Even though Education Minister Mladen Sarcevic said the ministry would not comply with the petition, the science education group cites Tanjug as reporting on 10 May that this is not the first time creationism has been pushed by influential conservatives.

The countrys most famous advocate of creationism, former Education Minister Ljiljana Colic, told Danas.rs she agreed with everything in the petition, saying, "I tell you that the [Darwinian] theory of evolution and claiming that man came from monkeys offends all believers, not just Orthodox."

Colic, now a professor of Ottoman language and paleography at Belgrade University, resigned her cabinet post in 2004 after her proposal to oust Darwinian theory from the school curriculum failed.

In a rejoinder to the petition dated 9 May, the Serbian Biological Society together with other scientific societies and science faculty members said evolution is "the backbone of modern biology."

Compiled by Ky Krauthamer

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Evolution Is a Western Plot: Serbian Intellectuals - Transitions Online