Creationism and medicine

The theory of natural selection has recently found itself under attack from representatives of different religious and scientific groups. In the last few weeks, a book called L'Atlas de la Création has been arriving at French speaking schools and universities throughout Europe. The author of the atlas, Harun Yahya (pseudonym for Turkish intellectual Adnan Oktar) not only argues that Darwin's theory is false but also purports to find links between Darwinism and fascism, communism, and terrorism.

This follows the distribution of a DVD entitled Unlocking the Mystery of Life to every UK head of secondary school science in September of last year. It was sent by Truth in Science, a UK lobbying group. The film argues that the combination of complexity and purposeful function in some natural structures indicates that they have not evolved by Darwinian means, and that they show evidence of design. Twelve senior academics wrote to the UK prime minister and the education secretary at the beginning of 2007 to endorse the Truth in Science project and to advocate changes to the national science curriculum. Among them was Norman Nevin, professor emeritus of medical genetics at Queen's University, Belfast.

Steve Jones, a professor who teaches genetics at University College London and is also a popular and award winning science writer, is unimpressed by the spread of creationist and design theories. “I find …