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McGill Symposium on Islam and Evolution
Joshua Rosenau, Taner Edis, Salman Hameed, Ehab Abouheif, Saouma BouJaoude, Minoo Derayeh, A. Uner Turgay, Anila Asghar, Jason WIles, Brian Alters
March 31, 2009
Redpath Museum, Auditorium
How is evolution taught and understood in Islamic societies? How do Muslim students, parents, and teachers understand evolutionary science in relation to their religious beliefs?
These questions form the basis of the McGill Symposium on Islam and Evolution, where international experts in Islamic and Religious Studies, Science Education, and Biological Evolution will meet to discuss their views on this important topic.
NCSE Public Information Project Director Joshua Rosenau will present "From the Pillars of Islam to the Pillars of Creation," a paper co-authored with NCSE Director, Religious Community Outreach Peter Hess. The authors examine which core elements of Christian creationist rhetoric in the US have transferred, or failed to transfer into Islamic creationism in Turkey. Rosenau is scheduled to present in the morning panel.
Anila Asghar, Jason Wiles, and Brian Alters, a member of NCSE's board of directors, will present two papers in the afternoon. The first, "Islam, Culture, and Evolutionary Science: Evolution Education in Indonesia," will present results of surveys administered to 1,200 Indonesian high school students, as well as interviews with science/biology teachers, about student and teacher attitudes toward evolution and their views on the relationships of science to religion. The second paper, "Biological Evolution and Islam: The Paradox of Evolution Education in Pakistan," presents a survey of 2000 Pakistani high school students and interviews with their teachers, examining their understanding of evolution and their understanding of the relationship between science and religion.