Netherlands: Controversy Over Evolution

Tuesday May 24, 2005

Evolution and creationism have been making headlines in the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, the headmaster of a religious school had to "cool off" at home for a few days after saying that all teachers had to adhere to creationism. In the parliament, one minister tried to launch a debate about evolution but failed.

Expatica reports on the school furor:

Peter Boon of Augustinus College in the northern city of Groningen said in an interview with newspaper "Dagblad van het Noorden" earlier this week he could not tolerate one of his teachers telling a class he was a supporter of the Theory of Evolution.

News agency ANP reported that many of the teachers in the school disagree with this and believe that the Theory of Evolution can go hand-in-hand with the Christian view on how life — and humans in particular — has developed.

Teachers informed Boon during a meeting that he went too far, so he agreed to stay home for a few days and cool off. Boon is an active member of the Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's Christian Democrat party (CDA). Another member of the CDA, Minister of Education Van der Hoeven, is the one who tried to debate evolution in the parliament

PZ Myers quotes from a Dutch newspaper:

Last Saturday, Van der Hoeven said in an interview with de Volkskrant that the theory of evolution is 'not complete'. She added that she doesn't believe in coincidence. The CDA-politica wants to start a dialogue between scientists and supporters of creationism and intelligent design.

The VVD (Liberals), D66 (Democrats), PvdA (Social Democrats), LPF (Populists) en also Van der Hoeven's own CDA (Christian Democrats) don't agree with her. "This will set us back five steps", fears representative Lambrechts (of the Democratic Party D66). "Six years ago we decided that schools must teach their students the evolution of evolution. We want to keep it this way."

Representative Kraneveldt (of the Populist Party LPF) thinks that the separation between religion and government is in danger if Van der Hoeven thinks it's her task to make the "ID-idea" heard in schools.

It appears that most politicians are quick to criticize this nonsense and refuse to have anything to do with it — you wouldn't see that happening in America, unfortunately. Still, it's curious that this is happening at all. It seems as though the influence of American creationists is being felt more and more in Europe. People in Europe can't appreciate that very much, but American creationists are very well funded and organized.

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