In June this year, Guy Lengagne, French socialist politician and mathematics professor, submitted a draft report to the Committee on Culture, Science and Education of the Council of Europe on the threat to science education posed by creationism. Some of the points in the draft were:

• Creationists were bent on having their theories included in the school science syllabus, although creationism was not a scientific discipline.
• We were witnessing a growth of modes of thought which, the better to impose religious dogma, were attacking the very core of the knowledge that we had patiently built up on nature, evolution, our origins and our place in the universe.
• Creationism claimed to be based on scientific rigour, but creationists relied on purely dogmatic assertions, distorted use of scientific quotations and backing from well-known scientists, most of whom were not biologists. By these means they hoped to sow doubt and confusion in the minds of non-specialists.
• Denying evolution could have serious consequences for the development of our societies. Many advances in medical research as well as awareness of the risks of decline in biodiversity and climate change would be impossible if every principle of evolution were denied. The teaching of evolution as a fundamental scientific theory was therefore crucial to the future of our societies and our democracies and must occupy a central position in the scientific curriculum.
• Although the development of science and technology formed an important part of the long history of our modern world, the scientific approach was still not well understood. This was liable to encourage the development of fundamentalism and extremism, synonymous with attacks of utmost virulence on human rights. The total rejection of science was definitely one of the most serious threats to human rights and civic rights.
• The Parliamentary Assembly therefore urged the member states, and especially their education authorities, to:
  • defend and promote scientific knowledge;
  • strengthen the teaching of the foundations of science, its history, its epistemology and its methods alongside the teaching of objective scientific knowledge;
  • make science more comprehensible, more attractive and closer to the realities of the contemporary world;
  • firmly oppose the teaching of creationism as a scientific discipline on an equal footing with the theory of evolution by natural selection and in general resist presentation of creationist theories in any discipline other than religion;
  • promote the teaching of evolution by natural selection as a fundamental scientific theory in the school curriculum.

However, 63 of the 119 members of the Council of Europe rejected the report, criticising it for “lack of reflection” and referred it back to the Committee for revision. It is expected to be on the agenda for the next plenary session in October.