Turkey's Science Research Council Stops Publication of Evolution Books

An anonymous reader writes "The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK) has put a stop to the publication and sale of all books in its archives that support the theory of evolution, daily Radikal has reported. The books have long been listed as “out of stock” on TÜBTAK's website, but their further publication is now slated to be stopped permanently. Titles by Richard Dawkins, Alan Moorehead, Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Levontin and James Watson are all included in the list of books that will no longer be available to Turkish readers. In early 2009, a huge uproar occurred when the cover story of a publication by TÜBITAK was pulled, reportedly because it focused on Darwin’s theory of evolution."

Comments

Note to myself:

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't hire people from Turkey, Kansas,...

This is a country that wants in the EU

[crazyjj]

Yeah, feel free to reapply in a few centuries.

Actually, don't.

Re:This is a country that wants in the EU

[velvet_stallion]

Turkey doesn't seem to mind following behind the world by a couple of centuries. The Ottoman Empire refused to allow the printing press until 1729, but closed it, then reopened it again later in 1784. Same group objected to it as to evolution, the all-knowing theocratic wise men. Religion = Suppression of Thought. Science = Freedom of Thought.

Re:This is a country that wants in the EU

[pixelpusher220]

they never managed to separate religion from politics

Did they even try?

I'm not sayin religion is bad

Then I will. Religion exists because lights in the sky go boom and it doesn't rain when you want it to and things happen you can't understand.

Guess what, today we can understand those things and so religion is quite literally at odds with modern life. Sure we dress it up and ignore the ugly parts 'we' don't like but then somebody else decides, hey smiting neighbors is a good thing and justifies it with the Bible or whatever your religious source is.

If it ain't based on cold hard facts it has no business governing anyone other than the individual who believes it.

Re:This is a country that wants in the EU

[Anonymous Coward]

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” - Isaac Asimov

Re:This is a country that wants in the EU

[Pseudonym]

Science has provided us everything that religion has historically promised, including the chance of a firey holocaust which destroys humanity Go science!.

Re:This is a country that wants in the EU

[Anonymous Coward]

"this is not unusual thing for Islamic countries."

      Not just Islamic countries. We still have "under god" in the pledge of allegiance. A phrase added during socialization in an attempt to program our children in the 1950's and has resulted with court battles by children to get rid of it. And how secular are we when someone sticking a ten commandments mural in a state building causes a giant court and public fight when it's obvious the damn thing shouldn't be there in the first place. Another phrase from the 1950's "Be the best you can be" or something like that pushed by a general when a more apt phrase might be "Be what you want to be". I won't get into the abortion, teaching creationism, and religious manipulation of politics. The US may have a secular government but it has a religious populace that just won't keep religion out of it. To be honest we're not that far from Turkey.

Re:This is a country that wants in the EU

[SirGarlon]

Guess what, today we can understand those things and so religion is quite literally at odds with modern life.

Some religions are, some aren't. Most of the incompatibility comes from dogma, which varies over time and among sects. It may surprise you to know that several major religious sects support teaching evolution and actively oppose teaching creation.

Sure we dress it up and ignore the ugly parts 'we' don't like but then somebody else decides, hey smiting neighbors is a good thing and justifies it with the Bible or whatever your religious source is.

As if there were never another pretext for war besides the Bible, and all atheists were pacifists. People who want to smite their neighbors will make up a reason to do it, religion or no.

If it ain't based on cold hard facts it has no business governing anyone other than the individual who believes it.

I wholeheartedly agree that other people's religion should not govern me, and by the Golden Rule that also means my religion should not govern anyone else. However, I would point out that the separation of church and state, which you elegantly and passionately summarize here, is itself not based on "cold hard facts." It's ideology. Not all ideology is bad.

Re:This is a country that wants in the EU

[cheater512]

It's not unusual in religious countries. How long has the US tried to do the same?

Re:This is a country that wants in the EU

[sjames]

From the standpoint of social structure, there is a scientific basis for religion. Children who are told some being is watching are more likely to leave a plate of cookies alone when asked even if they don't believe that the being will do anything but watch.

In general, people are more likely to behave in an ethical manner when they believe someone will see what they do, even if they don't expect any consequences for being seen.

I would prefer that we let a benevolent sky being do the watching rather than the guys back at the precinct.

That isn't to say that there isn't a long history of organized religion abusing the power of belief for their own ends, of course. That is what I personally object to. Perhaps if the abusers had actually believed someone was watching...

Re:This is a country that wants in the EU

[martin-boundary]

Christianity, and especially the vatican, are extremely pro-science compared to other religions.

Wrong. Like any religion, they lay claim to the "higher" truth. What you are talking about is tolerance of a "lower" scientific truth as long as it doesn't usurp the more important higher truth being claimed by the religion. And even that was paid in blood.

To put it bluntly, scientific knowledge is incompatible with gods. We know it, they know it. To preserve face and influence, christian religions will acknowledge science's truth while falsely claiming that there is another truth out there (unproven and full of logically inconsistent claims) which is nevertheless claimed to be coexistent and ultimately more important. Basically, religion is like the kid who says to your face he'll clean up his room but never actually does it.

Re:This is a country that wants in the EU

[riverat1]

I think you are right. I've been told several times over the years by religious people that I can't be a moral person because I don't believe in God. My response is that if it requires fear of God to make you act morally then you really aren't very moral but just reacting to the threat of punishment. If you do the right thing even though no one's looking (including God) then you can really call yourself a moral person.

Wow, I thought we (the US) was the only standout

[kannibal_klown]

Wow, I thought the US was the only stand-out / weird-country with anti-evolution nuts in power.

I guess there are other countries in this unfortunate "club"

If you don't want to believe in it (or that it's even possible) then fine... believe in whatever you want.

But stop trying to prevent other people from learning it. Please. And please stop trying to pass religion off as science... such as those museums that say Adam rode on a dinosaur, and that dinosaurs were vegens until the apple incident.

Re:Wow, I thought we (the US) was the only standou

[SirGarlon]

Wow, I thought the US was the only stand-out / weird-country with anti-evolution nuts in power.

The US is just the squeakiest wheel, because we have an open press and debate our problems for the whole world to see. I can easily believe other countries have plenty of dirty laundry and just keep it to themselves.

Re:Wow, I thought we (the US) was the only standou

[medv4380]

Incorrect. Only countries where a religious group believes that evolution is in opposition to their religion does that happen. In India 85% believe that Evolution is compatible with their religious beliefs, and I wouldn't consider Hindus to be any less crazy than any other religion out there.

Re:Wow, I thought we (the US) was the only standou

[DdJ]

Are you kidding? You just presented direct evidence that they're less crazy than other religions.

Re:Wow, I thought we (the US) was the only standou

[similar_name]

No one is trying to teach evolution in church. Plenty try to teach religion in science class. How do so many people not understand the difference?

Re:Wow, I thought we (the US) was the only standou

[Anonymous Coward]

Just because what you believe is true, doesn't make you not crazy.

Re:Wow, I thought we (the US) was the only standou

[medv4380]

I think the whole Untouchable and Cast System keeps them firmly in the "They're Just As Crazy as Everyone Else" territory. Regardless of their position on Evolution.

Re:Wow, I thought we (the US) was the only standou

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Over the years I've noticed this is a pretty common theme on Slashdot - You could post a story about some backwater, torture-filled nation lead by some despotic religious zealot and 26 replies will immediately say "Yeah, but the USA is TEN TIMES WORSE!"

Over the years I've noticed this is a pretty common theme on Slashdot - people point out problems in other countries, others draw parallels to the US and some pseudo-patriot type comes along and exaggerates those parallels in order to complain about the people pointing them out.

The problem with your complaining is that while Americans have very little influence over other what other governments do in other countries, here at least we claim to have the democratic process in order to fix our own problems. But you can't fix what you don't know about. "My country, right or wrong. If right to be kept right, if wrong to be set right."