Atlas Of Creation At A Council Of Europe Press Conference

Following a session discussing the teaching of creationism in schools, the Council of Europe, headquartered in the French city of Strasbourg, went on to hold a press conference on 4 October, 2007. The main subject of the conference was Atlas of Creation, which lay on the table throughout.

At the press conference Anne Brasseur, a politician from Luxembourg who recently submitted a report to the Council, picked the Atlas up to show it to the assembled journalists and went on to say:

“Harun Yahya is a Muslim, Turkish creationist. This is the first volume. There are two more. It has been sent out to Europe. In two languages, English and French. It says that the theory of evolution is a lie, that Darwinism is the root cause of terror, and that it is responsible for the dictators of the 20^th century and the like.”

Asked by a journalist about the messages that had been received in response to the report, the parliamentarians answered:

“Generally speaking we received negative e-mails. Very few letters supported the report. The letters were all opposed to the report. The commission and I were generally described as people with no respect for freedom of expression and freedom of religion…”

In response to a question from a journalist from the Turkish daily Milliyet beginning “You have referred to Harun Yahya and Atlas of Creation many times…” the French politician Jacques Legendre stated:

“I also received a copy. It has been sent to high schools, colleges and libraries where I live, up in the north. There was a note saying it can be placed in libraries for students to examine. It is a very expensive book. The quality of the printing is obvious…”

The journalists backed the parliamentarians, who portrayed Atlas of Creation as a danger and sought to prevent the teaching of creationism in schools, into a corner with their questions. They asked critical questions stating that banning books was literally censorship, violating freedom of expression and ignored the principle of equality of education. They even enquired whether the parliamentarians were considering collecting the copies of Atlas of Creation and burning them.

Through its attitude to Atlas of Creation, the Council of Europe made it clear that it was quite able to ignore such concepts as democracy and freedom of thought and belief when these clashed with its own views. It was made perfectly clear that, contrary to what Europe claims, it is not democratic, fails to attach the necessary importance to freedom of ideas and belief, and that it actually itself violates human rights. The idea that only those ideas that the powers regard as suitable should be taught is a fascist one. A mindset that cannot bear the theory of evolution to even be questioned or criticized is a manifestation of a dogmatic way of thinking.

On the other hand, such great fear of an idea, Atlas of Creation being seen as a danger solely because it proves the oneness and existence of Allah, confirms the truth of the message contained within the book. As our Lord tells us in one verse:

Rather We hurl the truth against falsehood and it cuts right through it and it vanishes clean away! Woe without end for you for what you portray! (Surat al-Anbiya’, 18)