The 26 June, 2007, edition of Berlingske, the best-established daily in Denmark with a circulation of 125,000, evaluated the Council of Europe’s rejection of a report opposing belief in creation. The rejection of the report prepared by left-leaning members of the council following the powerful impact in Europe of Atlas of Creation, has gone down as an important development in Europe’s attitude towards religion. The article in question read:
“A conservative majority in the Council of Europe have refused to condemn the ‘creationist’ views of Christian and Muslim groups critical of Darwin’s theory of evolution.
A report warning against religious groups attempting to include their ‘creationist’ views on education in the 47 member countries of the Council of Europe was to be voted by the council yesterday.
However, this was refused because according to Belgian Luc van den Brande, chairman of the conservative group, it was too critical.
... According to Guy Lengagne’s report, this idea that states that creation of the world is Allah’s (God’s) work is making rapid progress among both Christian and Muslim circles in Europe.
In 2004 and 2005, ministers in Italy and the Netherlands questioned whether Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution should be the only subject considered when children are taught about the creation of the world.
In Poland, in 2006, a minister openly declared that ‘the theory of evolution is a lie.’ In Russia, an Orthodox schoolgirl and her father took legal action against the Ministry of Education and Science in protest against the common biology teaching. Vsevolod Chaplin, an administrator at the Moscow Patriarchate, declared that the theory of evolution was a totalitarian ideology.
At the same time, a powerful ‘creationist’ propaganda has emerged from Turkey in recent times, in the figure of the preacher Harun Yahya…
Large numbers of Atlas of Creation, published this year, have been sent out to schools in countries such as France, Belgium and Switzerland…
Guy Lengagne reports that schools in the German state of Hesse began to teach students that a ‘creative force’ must have been involved in the development of different animal species…
In the US, 38% of the public think that Darwin’s theory of evolution should be removed from the curriculum, and President George W. Bush supports that children should be taught both Darwin’s teachings and the ideas of religious groups.”
The influence of Harun Yahya in the loud debate in Europe over the invalidity of the theory of evolution and the way that Europe is turning in the direction of faith is a reality expressed by many commentators. Harun Yahya’s 250 or so books are read with enormous interest all over the world. Eight million books and more than 10 million documentary films have been purchased from 40 countries, and every month 5 million people access his works free of charge over the internet. An average of 658,000 documentaries, 365,000 books and 103,000 audio presentations are downloaded every month from more than 200 sites in some 40 languages. His books, translated into 57 languages to date, are read in 158 different countries, and his documentaries are broadcast by 100 separate television channels in 20 countries. In the light of all these figures, it appears that this educational campaign, for which Harun Yahya has been a vehicle for many years, is today bearing fruit. These works lead believers to deepen in faith, and those whose knowledge is less than complete to come to faith by seeing the proofs of the existence of Allah (God). As is revealed in one verse of the Qur’an:
“And you have seen people entering Allah’s religion in droves, then glorify your Lord’s praise and ask His forgiveness. He is the Ever-Returning.” (Surat an-Nasr, 2-3)
