A Turkish Creationist with Way Too Much Influence
The Wall Street Journal has an article on wacko Islamic creationist Harun Yahya, aka Adnan Oktar, and his disturbing progress in promoting his anti-science nonsense in Turkey: An Islamic Creationist Stirs a New Kind of Darwinian Struggle.
ISTANBUL — As scientists around the world celebrate the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s seminal work on evolution, Adnan Oktar, a college dropout turned theorist of Islamic creationism, is working on the fifth volume of a 14-part masterwork that he says will bury Darwinism once and for all.
“Darwin and his theory are dead,” says Mr. Oktar, founder and honorary president of the Science Research Foundation, an Istanbul outfit dedicated to debunking the Victorian-era English naturalist. Darwin, says his 52-year-old Turkish scourge, is “Satan’s biggest trick on humanity.”
Mr. Oktar, who briefly studied interior design, hasn’t had much success swaying scientists with the weight of his research. “He is a complete and utter ignoramus,” says Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist and Oxford University professor.
The physical weight of Mr. Oktar’s work, however, is considerable. Each volume of his anti-Darwin magnum opus, “Atlas of Creation,” weighs more than 13 pounds. Also weighing in on his side are very aggressive lawyers. They’ve repeatedly gone to court in Turkey to silence critics whom Mr. Oktar accuses of spreading “lies and insults.” Scores of Web sites have been banned at his behest.
For more on this well-funded freak: LGF search: “Harun Yahya”.
Frank says: