I’m pleased to see that the Council of Europe has got to the facts in its report on Creationism:
Creationism in any of its forms, such as “intelligent design”, is not based on facts, does not use any scientific reasoning and its contents are definitely inappropriate for science classes.However, some people call for creationist theories to be taught in European schools alongside or even in place of the theory of evolution. From a scientific view point, there is absolutely no doubt that evolution is a central theory for our understanding of life on Earth.The Assembly calls on education authorities in member states to promote scientific knowledge and the teaching of evolution and to oppose firmly any attempts at teaching creationism as a scientific discipline.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens when this report (The dangers of creationism in education – Document 11375, dated 17th September 2007) is submitted to the full Council for voting on its draft resolution. It will be even more interesting, if the Council supports its findings and the draft resolution, as to whether the 47 member states will have the guts to implement the report’s suggestions.
Update 5 October 2007: I see that the Council has indeed adopted a resolution (by 48 in favour, 25 against and 3 abstensions). Terrific!
Geoff Coupe's Blog 
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