The Impact Of Atlas Of Creation in Italy

The 4 June, 2007, edition of Corriere della Sera, one of Italy’s largest dailies, carried a report concerning the Atlas of Creation.

Titled “Islam is being gifted to teachers in a book refuting Darwin,” the report discussed the impact in Europe of Harun Yahya’s work, and particularly the Atlas of Creation’s long-term influence on people’s thinking:

“… Italy has been invaded by hundreds, maybe thousands of copies of the first, large 800-page volume of a book printed on top quality, glossy paper and weighing some 6 kilos…

A colleague of mine from daily Mezzogiorno told me on 31 May that the Atlas of Creation had been dispatched to a school in Altamura. I looked it up on the Internet and learned that the book had previously been sent to France, Germany, Switzerland, Britain and The Netherlands. Hundreds of thousands of copies had overflowed Europe…

… Oktar’s powerful strategy was highly effective: the results of an opinion poll by the TurkishAcademy of Sciences show that 75% of Turkish middle and high school students no longer believe in the theory of evolution…

In the appendix to the book, the author maintains that “Islam is the solution to terrorism, not its source,” and that “the solution to individuals and groups attempting to apply their own ruthlessness under a religious guise is the teaching of true Qur’anic moral values.” Another extract indicates that Oktar is a supporter of the global Masonic conspiracy theory…

At the same time, a competition has arisen between creationists of Christian origin centered in the United States and those of Islamic origin who have preoccupied us with the Atlas of Creation. We cannot know which of these will prevail, we do know for certain that we will be the losers…”

Another report regarding the impact in France of the Atlas of Creation appeared in the same newspaper in February. Written by Massimo Nava and titled “Islamic Scholar: Darwin Is a Terrorist. A New Islamic Creationism,” the report contained the following statements:

“Is Darwin like Stalin, Hitler and Bin Laden? … The Atlas of Creation maintains that there are secret ties between the theory of evolution and such bloodthirsty ideologies as fascism and communism.

… Dr. Harun Yahya’s (real name Adnan Oktar) book has been sent to French schools …

Harun Yahya proposes a new form of creationism as an alternative to Christian creationism…

Because it is the only theory that “values and encourages conflict,” Darwinist theory is depicted as responsible for September 11…

The biologist Hervé Le Guyader, charged by the Ministry with conducting a detailed analysis of the book, said, ‘this is a new form of creationism, more worrying than the Christian-based creationism popular in North America.’”