The Indian government has recently removed the chapter on “Biological Evolution Theory” by Charles Darwin from the textbooks prepared by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for public schools in grades 9 and 10, citing the reason of “streamlining the curriculum”, according to The Hindu.
The Indian government’s decision to eliminate this theory, along with some states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) introducing the Bhagavad Gita (a part of the epic from Hindu scripture) into schools since 2022, has sparked a major controversy in public opinion.
The Indian government has recently decided to remove Darwin’s evolution lectures from textbooks.
The BJP has long been targeting Darwin’s theory of evolution. In 2018, the then Minister of Human Resource Development, Satyapal Singh, declared that Darwin’s theory of evolution was scientifically inaccurate and should not be taught in schools, arguing that “no one witnessed that.”
The former minister further asserted that since humans have been seen on Earth, they have always existed as humans. In other words, he strongly supported the idea of Creationism, claiming that humans were created and are not products of evolutionary processes.
In the last century, Evolution Theory and Creationism have been regarded as opposing concepts. Even American scientists have struggled with the debate between these two doctrines. Proponents of Creation Science have sought to give equal priority to the teaching of evolutionary science and creationism in schools.
In fact, the state of Arkansas (USA) has passed laws regarding this issue. Although the state government does not bluntly declare that Evolution Theory is unscientific as former Minister Singh did, they have attempted to promote Creationism as being scientific. The constitutionality of the law in Arkansas has sparked controversy within the scientific community.
It is worth noting that prior to this, since 2017, Evolution Theory was removed from textbooks in Turkey. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party, which is rooted in Islam, have been said to advocate changing the secular foundations of the nation by promoting a conservative agenda with strict regulations. Evolution Theory has been strongly rejected by both Christianity and Islam, as adherents believe that God is the creator of the world, as stated in the Bible and the Quran.
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Creationism posits that all species of animals and plants were created by a divine act of a holy creator and have existed since their creation, meaning everything is the result of divine creation. Evolution Theory (Darwinism) provides a strong rebuttal to theological beliefs, stating that all living species emerge, develop, and evolve through random mutations and natural selection. This means that if species A evolves into species B, there must be intermediary species between A and B. These generations have gone extinct, but according to Darwin, their fossils should definitely lie underground in large numbers and, eventually, science will find them. If not found, his theory will be in jeopardy. Creationists have opposed Darwin’s theory of evolution and demanded that Creationism be taught as a science on par with Evolution Theory. |
