Hi, Pharyngulites! This topic is something we at Cyprus Freethinkers are greatly concerned about, as the only freethinking and skeptic group of the island. Our website is over here: http://www.cyprusfreethinkers.org/. This is only my personal blog, stick around if you enjoy biology, you’ve already single-handedly broken my site visit records! :)
The persistence of creationism is one of the greatest examples of human stupidity. And I mean the entire spectrum of creationism, from the Young Earth crazies to the moderate theistic evolution permutations. When we live in an age where scientific information is available to anyone with an internet connection, there is simply no excuse for such an outdated religious concept to still be considered valid by a notable segment of the population.
Of course, a lot of creationists aren’t creationists by choice, but by virtue of their environment. If someone grows up having been taught no critical thinking skills, false evolutionary biology, and with little access to information, that person will not be able to challenge the ideas taught to them. This is how creationism largely gets propagated: under the guise of religious freedom and using the power of false equivalence, creationists push their drivel into biology curricula, claiming religious discrimination if challenged.
I’m an ardent opponent of all pseudoscience, and especially of creationism. The opposition to creationism comes not only from my duty as a biologist and my pedagogical instincts, but also from personal experiences. I met many creationists in my time in Germany, because of my courageous trolling of the strong evangelical community of the city I was in (Bonn). But encounters with deluded individuals are only nice as party stories.
I became entrenched in the manufactured debate when I encountered schoolchildren being taught creationism by their schoolteachers. Reasons vary, from the teacher not feeling comfortable with evolution due to religious beliefs, to the students demanding not to be taught evolution due to it contradicting their religion. Such stories represent clear failures on the part of teachers, an incredible sense of privilege among students, and an unacceptable lack of control in educational systems.
But nonetheless, these were isolated incidents – single teachers and students going their own rogue way. I have never personally encountered any official endorsement of creationism (in any of its forms) in school biology textbooks, besides the occasional stories one hears from that great paradox of a country, the USA.
Until now. The Ministry of Education of Cyprus has issued new biology textbooks for schoolchildren, and one of the pages there is devoted to retelling the story of Noah’s Ark, placing him as the saviour of Earth’s biodiversity. The offending page and my letter to the Ministry are below. Please, if you care at all about this issue, share the letter (or this whole post), sign the petition linked at the end, and spread the word around. A clean copy of the letter without my lengthy introduction can be found at Cyprus Freethinkers.
A school serves many purposes, but the two primary ones are to teach a sense of critical thinking, and to teach about our current knowledge of the world. This is especially true for the science classes. This is why we view the addition of a section on Noah’s Ark in school biology textbooks, pictured above, as a travesty and an embarrassment to the Cypriot educational system.
There are several reasons for this. First and foremost, the story of Noah’s Ark is nothing more than that: a story. It’s a fable with no basis in reality, and has been conclusively shown to be an impossibility by all relevant branches of science, from biology to palaeontology to geology.
The offending page in the textbook brings it up in the context of the development and evolution of Earth’s biodiversity, citing the Book of Genesis from the Bible, a book written long before modern science, let alone biology as we know it, emerged. It claims that Noah continued Adam’s work by gathering up the organisms of Earth (as a biologist, I must presume this includes bacteria and all sorts of unicellular eukaryotes) to save them from a cataclysmic flood. This ridiculousness is then couched in a positive environmental message encouraging the student to also do their part in preserving Earth’s biodiversity.
It must be stressed that this story of a global flood leaving a blank slate for humanity and life is quite a common one in world religions, with over 40 creation myths from around the world having developed a nearly-identical version of the story (the Abrahamic version was probably plagiarised from the preexisting Babylonian and Sumerian Gilgamesh Epic). This independent recurrence of the theme serves to highlight how much of a tribal concept this is – it’s a universally understood plot mechanism.
It could be argued that its inclusion in the book is not meant to be taken as a literal endorsement, that it’s merely a carrier for the environmental message. But this is nothing more than a pathetic excuse. Why should students be told a blatant lie, when we know the real history of biodiversity? That’s a story that is much more inspiring, and would put the environmental message in the proper context. Most importantly however, it can be backed up by scientific evidence – as befits a science class.
The scientific inaccuracy of this page is the main area of contention, but there are other troublesome aspects. One is the implicit assumption that the reader is familiar with the cast and outline of this story; in other words, it discriminates against any child who is not from a Jewish, Christian, or Muslim household. This is an unacceptable favouring of religions that treat the Bible as a holy book. Considering that these textbooks are official government documents, this represents an undeniable breach of the right to freedom of religion by forcing the myth of one set of religions onto all students, regardless of their personal faith and cultural background.
One might wonder why such an idiotic change in the textbook was approved. The answer lies in the person responsible for setting biology curricula, Demetrios Mappouras, a Christian priest and biologist whose judgement is clearly being impaired by his religious beliefs. The current page is nothing more than Christian propaganda, and would be more fit for a creationist magazine than a school biology textbook.
Our demand is simple: replace the content of this page with a scientifically accurate depiction of the evolution of biodiversity. The current page is highly misleading, contradicting all known science; especially worrisome is the anti-evolutionary undertone. There is a lot of research available from which to provide an appropriate overview; resorting to an irrelevant ancient holy book is a resounding failure on the part of the writers. If allowed to persist, this will not only damage the credibility of Cyprus’s schools and Ministry of Education, but will more importantly have a negative effect on the academic potential of the students.
Marc Srour
Research Associate, Enalia Physis Environmental Research Center (entomology, palaeontology)
On behalf of Cyprus FreethinkersFurther Reading:
A thorough debunking of the plausibility of Noah’s Ark can be found here (Greek).
Sign this petition to help get rid of this page from the textbook (Greek).
[...] also posted a description of this duplicitous and offensive practice on the website Teaching Biology, The Ministry of Education of Cyprus has issued new biology [...]
Hello Marc, this article only makes me wonder about the reason why you are so angry. Sorry I won’t sign the petition.
I’m not angry. I was angry when I first saw this crap, as anyone would be. Aggressive might be a more appropriate word, and the reason why is explained quite thoroughly in the post. Imposing nonsense like this at a critical time in a child’s education certainly deserves an aggressive response, doesn’t it? Consider that at 12-13 years of age is when kids start getting the sciences taught separately. This would be their first introduction to real biology. And what do they get straight in the first few lessons? A fairytale with no basis in reality, instead of the true story of the history of biodiversity. As a biologist, there is no way I will stand idly by and let that happen. And I would wager that any biologist, regardless of religion or irreligion, would have exactly the same reaction – unless they’re being blinded by whatever faith they embrace.
Tl;dr: Religious myths have no place at all in a science classroom. This is clearly a violation of that truism. So aggressiveness (and anger) is justified.
Hi Marc,
Sorry but aggressiveness is never justified. No matter the context.
Why it is that so-called “freethinkers” have an obsession with the factuality of religious stories? That the story has to be factual, documented by strands of evidence, otherwise it does not have any function in human imagination. Regrettably evolution is almost entirely unseen, though it is a well-established fact. But it does not capture human imagination. A “scientifically accurate depiction of the evolution of biodiversity” not only is boring but also untenable in the mind of a 12-13 school child.
The story of Noah Arc keeps memory of a cataclysmic flood that really happened thousands of years ago. The archeological evidence can prove it. There is much good in passing through stories generation after generation for the sake of creating a consciousness about modern topics, such as the environment.
The message in the Noah story is that Man (mankind) must take care of the environment, as Noah has taken care of the world of his time, preserving every species from devastation and extinction. Because of man’s fundamental role as co-creator with God, man should take responsibility when a major natural catastrophe is about to happen.
It is a “moral lesson,” my dear. Not a “blatant lie,” as you said, and it doesn’t contradict the “real history” of biodiversity.
I will grant you that the global flood story is a good one – after all, it does show up in many unrelated mythologies. I personally can’t see any moral in it (the Three Little Pigs has a better moral about rebuilding your world, without the needless armageddons), but that’s beside the point.
So what? I would have the same reaction if this page had an excerpt from Hamlet or from Journey to the Center of the Earth, both masterpieces of literature and very stimulating for the imagination. The reason is because *they have nothing at all to do with biology*. For the same reaosn as why someone would complain about quantum mechanics being taught in literature class.
“Regrettably evolution is almost entirely unseen”
Uhm. Do you realise where you’re commenting? Here, I’ll link you to an older blog post with tons of examples of evolution having been observed. Search for “White Sands” for the coolest one. http://bioteaching.wordpress.com/2012/03/17/natural-selection/
“A “scientifically accurate depiction of the evolution of biodiversity” not only is boring but also untenable in the mind of a 12-13 school child. ”
Boring? Are you kidding me? Mass extinctions, explosive radiations, biological innovations, mass migrations, climate changes. These are what make up the history of biodiversity. How can these be boring? Check some of the posts in here and the events depicted and tell me honestly that they’re boring. http://bioteaching.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/cyprus-2011-talk-abstracts/
And you should never, ever underestimate the brainpower of children. I’ve taught 14 year olds natural selection at a slightly lower level than the post I linked above. And they absorbed it all with no problem.
“The story of Noah Arc keeps memory of a cataclysmic flood that really happened thousands of years ago. The archeological evidence can prove it. There is much good in passing through stories generation after generation for the sake of creating a consciousness about modern topics, such as the environment.”
Partial truth here. A local large flood near where the Sumerians and the Babylonians lived is possible to have happened. I don’t know if it did, but I’m not an archaeologist. But a global flood, as depicted in the Noah’s Ark story? That’s preposterous, and I don’t dismiss it a priori, but because there is zero evidence for one, despite having a very good Quaternary sedimentary record, with zero evidence for a global flood. It’s a local fable, nothing more. And don’t even get me started on the “saving biodiversity” bullshit.
As for the creating a consciousness part, as I said in the letter, I think that’s a positive message. Saving biodiversity and all that. But there are MUCH better ways of doing that, like, for example, putting examples of how much biodiversity we’re losing because of human activities, or putting cool pictures of already-lost biodiversity. That would be scientifically accurate and inspiring.
“Because of man’s fundamental role as co-creator with God, man should take responsibility when a major natural catastrophe is about to happen.”
I’ll take it that’s what Christians believe. Good for them. It’s inappropriate to include a story with such a moral unless it’s in a private school that is explicitly Christian. Don’t forget that there are kids who might not be Christian and who might not know who this “God” fellow is, and might not know that humans are apparently co-creators with the guy.
“It is a “moral lesson,” my dear. Not a “blatant lie,” as you said, and it doesn’t contradict the “real history” of biodiversity.”
It is a blatant lie. It’s not backed up by any evidence, and those who wrote this textbook should know as much. And it DOES contradict the true history of biodiversity. Open a biogeography textbook. Open a palaeontology book. It so elementarily contradicts the facts that I have to chalk you up as an idiot troll.
As I said, I agree that there should be a moral. Morals are inspiring, and that’s excellent for kids their age. But scientific morals must be based on truth, not on stupid fairytales.
“The archeological evidence can prove it.”
Fail.
“…..as Noah has taken care of the world of his time, preserving every species from devastation and extinction.”
Fail.
“Because of man’s fundamental role as co-creator with God,….”
Fail.
Would you care to be a gem and provide evidence for your above nonsensical claims? (I hope you try to, because it would mean less time spent arguing with your very confused likes, and in the process you will see that there is nothing to support your delusional claims)
My dear(since you choose to take the condescending tone), it “is” a blatant lie and it fully contradicts not only the ‘real history’ of biodiversity, but your very origins and the stance of intellectualism altogether.
Hi George,
Regarding the archeological evidence of a flood in the Mesopotamia area, including the land of Israel:
In recent years, scientists have proposed the first exciting interpretation of the flood in over 150 years of study and speculation. Combining modern geophysics and archeology with Biblical texts and ancient traditions, these scientists have presented astonishing evidence relating to the reality of the Biblical Flood.
About 12.000 years ago, toward the end of the Ice Age, the earth began growing warmer. Vast sheets of ice that sprawled over the Northern Hemisphere began to melt. Oceans and seas grew deeper as a result.
Over the next seven thousand years, to about 5600 B.C., the area of the Black Sea was isolated from the Mediterranean. In the meantime, the global sea levels were rising. Around 5.600 B.C., the mounting seas burst through.
The salt water of the Mediterranean rose in Marmara, crashed through the natural dam of the Bosporus, poured into the lake with great force, and raised the level of the body of water 280 feet in twelve months.
William B. F. Bryan, who was a student of an expedition from Woods Hole Institution which, in 1961, had discovered that the northern mouth of the Bosporus had slashed a deep undersea gorge through the bedrock and sediment, observed that the gorge was first a tiny channel running down a grassy slope. Within 60 days, “the trickle had become a torrent, then an unimaginable cascade.”
The water cascaded over beaches and up rivers, destroying everything in its path. When the rising waters of the Mediterranean broke through the Bosporus, “ten cubic miles of water poured through each day, two hundred times what flows over Niagara Falls … The Bosporus roared and surged at full spate for at least three hundred days.”
The conclusion was that the Flood might have been a prolonged, huge flume of water from the Mediterranean that broke through a natural dam in the Bosporus Strait and plunged into the freshwater lake that then became the Black Sea.
In 1993, a Bulgarian oceanographer, Petko Dimitrov tested the theory by diving off the Danube Delta, in a manned submersible. 404 feet down, he found signs of an ancient beach. The shells from this beach were dated by radiocarbon tests to 7,000 B. C.
Russian scientists found submerged outlet channels of the old Don River, which flows from the north into the sea, as well as other streams and waterways that had once flowed out of the northern steppes across the grasslands of the shore into the freshwater lake. They found new evidence of a marine environment that had quickly destroyed a long established freshwater system.
In 1994, samples of Ryan and Pitman’s shells from widely dispersed sites from the Black Sea were subjected to radiocarbon dating using a highly advanced accelerator mass spectrometry technique; all of them were date 5,580 – 5,470 B. C.There was not some gradual influx but one great wave. These dates place the Flood within human memory.
The famous oceanographer Bob Ballard was compelled by all of these discoveries. He did find the distinct features of an ancient freshwater lake, 550 feet below present level of the Black Sea. He also found the shells of two extinct freshwater species of saltwater shellfish; they became extinct c. 5,400 B.C. Ballard’s conclusion: “We had closed the circle. No one could dispute that a Great Flood had occurred approximately 7,500 years ago.”
It is thus more than plausible that the Flood story of the Bible records a real and historic event. People lived around a freshwater lake. There was a Flood. They fled and many wound up in the mountainous area later called Urartu. Many of them might have fled by boat. Eventually, people moved south, maybe along the rivers. They dispersed; they spread their language(s), their genes and their historical memories.
The story of the Flood was passed down orally from generation to generation. This would explain why the flood stories of various cultures, from Sumer to India, are remarkably similar. These tales not only tell of the destruction of the world, as it was then known, but also offer hope.
Subsets of these people became, among others, proto-Indo-Europeans and Sumerians – the founders of two prominent early cultures of Europe and Western Asia, respectively.
People running for mountains may be the historical truth. It would make perfect sense: in a time of a flood, run for the high ground. Whether or not anyone built a big boat and put animals on it is of less importance to me (then again, if they could, they would have put animals on board so that they could start again). In this sense, the Flood story may be better history than a lot of us would have thought.
More Later
Recommended readings: William Tyan and Walter Pitman Noah’s Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries about The Event that Changed History, New York, 1998.
So it’s a local story.
You still haven’t explained the relevance to biology classes.
Yes, thanks for taking the time to write all of that, but we were interested in a global flood, as is purported in the amazing historical textbook that is, The Bible!
Your passion and diligence is noteworthy, although wasted.
Also, we would expect to see a very specific pattern in the fossil record concerning the migration of animals away from such a flood. The actual record shows none of this expected pattern.
“More later”
Waiting :) But no rush :P
Do you take the Bible as an accurate, or even semi-accurate representation of historical events?
Dear George,
We are co-creators with God. In the language of a-theism this statement makes no sense. I will try to explain it in terms that an evolutionist can understand. Evolution in itself in general, and the paths of evolution in themselves in particular are the sources of all that is right and good.
As an evolutionary ethicist myself, I consider that our moral obligations extend not only to seeing that evolution occurs without impediment, but we have an obligation, positively, to enforce the process of evolution. We should seek out the way in which evolution is proceeding, and use all means in our power to see that its ends are achieved.
We might conclude that the causal laws of Evolution set the standards of right action that inspired Noah to build a boat when the signs of a catastrophic flood were made evident somehow, put his family there along with domestic animals. The legend then evolved into the saving of all species in the planet.
In all likelihood, our ancestors in the time of Noah had an inductive knowledge of man’s origin, evolving from other species in the planet but becoming something altogether different. In other words, Evolution is engraved into the memory of humankind.
There is therefore no stumbling block in the path of harmonization between the Bible and Evolution. It is not that they cannot coexist. There are people in both sides of this ridiculous war (that only exist in the mind) between so-called “atheists” and so-called “religious fundamentalists” who refuse to even consider it.
The important and abiding considerations are: what did convince modern “free-thinkers” that analyzing data is the only way of knowing? When the concept of a Creator God, as an ultimate intelligence that dwarfs its own became completely intolerable? Could this refusal be the ego’s favorite strategy for protecting itself?
That is an indication that a psychological mechanism is at work. Perhaps what is needed for such an irrational position may not be more intellectual investigation, but psychoanalysis.
Dear George,
With regards to your question: “Do you take the Bible as an accurate or even semi-accurate representation of historical events?”
Well, which part of the Bible you refer to? For what is narrated in the New Testament is the representation of historical events. The prophets in the Old Testament were real people, they wrote in time and space. The Book of Judges, for example, talks about historical events in the land of Israel, archeological documented. Perhaps you are referring in particular to the Book of Genesis?
Saint Augustine struggled throughout his life as a bishop to produce a book on the interpretation of Genesis. By the “literal” meaning of Genesis, Augustine meant “What actually happened,” rather than the typological prophetic, or allegorical meaning. By the term “literal” he did not mean “what the words commonly mean,” but what facts they refer to, and how they could be interpreted to be consistent with the whole of Scripture, producing a non-contradictory presentation.
For example, since Genesis says that God created the heavens and earth, and then describes creation in six days, Augustine concluded that everything was created all at once, and that “seed principles” were created to cause creatures to appear at different times in accordance with the observations of nature.” Thus, the “days” of creation were really categories arranged by the author to assist explanation.
[...] 12-13 year olds, feel free to send an e-mail to our ministry of education. Here is my own letter, with personal intro and without personal intro. You can also sign this petition (Greek) that we at Cyprus FreeThinkers [...]
I did not find the time to read the above dialog in full, but I wanted to record a reaction to the blog post while I have it in mind. It’s about diversity; somehow, I find it strange for biologists to argue against (what I can see as) an ecology of divergent beliefs. Whatever you put in the name of ecology, btw :)
What we’re arguing against isn’t divergent beliefs, it’s about correctness and wrongness of beliefs. People can believe whatever they want if they want to, I have no right or desire to tell them what to believe in. But the minute they try to force beliefs that are as patently ridiculous as “Noah’s Ark is the origin of modern biodiversity”, it’s time for those beliefs to get culled.
You can consider the educational system not as a “natural” landscape but a purely artificial one (I know, the distinction is thin, just use the colloquial definition). If you’re the owner of a farm, you will destroy any parasites because they negatively affect your productivity. Same thing here: bad beliefs that lessen the value of your educational system have to be destroyed. Not all diversity is good ^^
[...] dreck since it would count as intellectual pollution, but at least in Cyprus, a thorough smackdown is necessary (also, it carries a security risk around these [...]
[...] it makes one despair at the state of very basic science education in certain parts of the world (including the part I reluctantly call my home). On the other hand, their screeds can serve as excellent starting points for teaching [...]