Immigration means more and more people in the UK do not accept evolution, says former director of education at the Royal Society Michael Reiss
Mass migration has led to a rise in creationist beliefs across Europe, according to a British scientist.
Michael Reiss, who is a professor of education at the Institute of Education in London and an Anglican priest, said the
evolution-
creationism debate could no longer be thought of as something that happened elsewhere and that more and more people in the UK did not accept evolution.
Reiss told the Guardian that countries with a higher proportion of Muslims or fundamentalist Christians in their population were more likely to reject evolution. He added: "What the Turks believe today is what the Germans and British believe tomorrow. It is because of the mass movement of people between countries.
"These things can no longer be thought of as occurring in other countries. In London, where I work, there are increasingly quite large numbers of highly intelligent 16, 17 and 18-year-olds doing Advanced Level biology who do not accept evolution. That's either because they come from a fundamentalist Christian background or from Muslim backgrounds."
This rejection of evolution even extended to young people training for the medical profession. "Around 10% of UK undergraduates in some medical
schools are creationists. Some people think this is unacceptable and that such students are not worthy to become doctors."
But when asked if their patients should be concerned, he said: "I am quite comfortable with people being first-rate doctors but not accepting evolution."
He made the remarks as hundreds of scientists and academics from around the world gathered in Alexandria, Egypt, for a three-day conference to discuss evolution and society. Organised by the British Council,
Darwin's Living Legacy, An International Conference on Society and Evolution will host speakers from Morocco, Turkey, Jordan, the UAE, Lebanon, the UK and the US.
Conference sessions will look at approaches to
teaching evolution, the variety of religious responses to Darwinism, the creationist movement in America and contemporary attitudes towards evolution in the Muslim world.
Reiss,
who was forced to resign his position as director of education at the Royal Society last year after expressing his views about discussing creationism in science lessons, will take part in a forum on
science and education. He said he would be arguing that some students found it difficult to accept evolution and that educators should help them to understand the evidence for it. But, "we should not be surprised if a few science lessons are not enough to change their minds."
Holding the conference in Alexandria will shift the focus onto Islam and other religions, he said, adding that the belief science and faith were incompatible was widespread. "There are lots of people who are convinced that if you're Christian or Muslim you cannot accept science as an atheist would. Some atheists hold that if you have a strong religious faith that it is incompatible with a scientific mind."
While Islam did not suggest that the world was very young – a tenet of Christian creationism – its texts did say that different kinds of organisms had separate origins. He cited surveys in Muslim-majority countries suggesting a widespread belief that organisms did not share a common ancestry.
Reiss said he would like to see young people being allowed to discuss these issues in religious education lessons. But if they brought the subject up in science lessons then the teacher, if comfortable, should use the opportunity to have a discussion about the strength of the evidence for evolution.
"Some people feel that when I suggest this I'm going soft on creationism. They're worried I'm not really convinced myself of evolution. I'm very comfortable about difference in society. I'm a bit concerned about over-enthusiastic atheists who ridicule people who don't accept evolution and I'm equally concerned with people of strong religious faith who denigrate science and say [scientists] can't be moral."
Reiss attracted controversy last year when he said that creationism should be discussed in science lessons, if only to prove it had no scientific basis. The ensuing furore led to him stepping down from his post at the Royal Society.
He told the Guardian how the uproar had led to "wonderful feedback from the overwhelming majority of scientists" and that he had been "very touched" by the large numbers of people who contacted him following the episode.
He believed a lot of scientists were reluctant to express their views freely. "They keep their heads down. It's extremely important that scientists feel comfortable being able to give independent advice and talk about their findings without any worry," he said, possibly alluding to
the confrontation between the Home Secretary Alan Johnson and the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
But he encouraged scientific experts to have greater patience with government. "There are times when scientists do not appreciate the reality of life for politicians. What a scientist needs to understand is that there is not a simple route from scientific advice to the formulation of good policy."
Muslim immigrants are bringing the evolution-creationism debate to the fore in countries like the UK and Germany, says Michael Reiss. Photograph: Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images