Iranian Theocrats Take a Cue from Christian Religious Right

From the current issue of Science, we see that Iranian theocrats are taking a cue from their U.S. counterparts to counter "dangerous" scientific ideas.  Follow me below the fold to find out more about the nutjobs and how a brief history of time can transition seemlessly from the Devonian period to the Koran (not sure if it transitions seemlessly to Genesis or not, you'd have to go ask James Dobson about that).

This is with a somewhat grudging h/t to (of all places) John Derbyshire over at the Corner.

Corner

Seems the Iranian clerics have been tinkering with biology exhibits:

A glance at the evolution exhibit at Tehran's museum of natural history reveals the tension below the surface.  Wave after wave of schoolgirls in matching headscarves file past a row of glass cases containing meticulously arranged fossils.  A label next to a trilobite, for example, says that the specimen, discovered in the nearby Alborz mountains, came from the Devonian, a period 400 million years ago when those sediments were submerged in a shallow sea.  Along the opposite wall, a diorama chronicles the evolution of life on earth.  Painted scenes of ancient life look as if they've been copied directly from the latest biology textbooks.  But the exhibit takes a sharp detour from science in the final display case where evolution is summed up.  In an open tome representing the Koran, phrases in calligraphy proclaim that 'God willed an atmosphere created from gases' and 'God created man from water.'  Above that is a poster--published by the Creation Evidence Museum in Glen Rose, Texas--describing how Earth was created in a few days by an omnipotent being.

If this exhibit leaves you wondering what the curator actually believes, then that is probably by design.  Under today's Iranian theocracy, 'you are forbidden to deny the existence of god,' explains Eghbal Taheri, a pharmacologist at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences.  'You can do your science,'  she says, 'but in the end you must choose your words carefully.'  For example, 'you cannot say that the amazing cells in the eye are nothing more than a product of evolution over millions of years.'

So congratulations to James Dobson and the rest of the wingnuts.  It appears that America has taken the lead in technological innovation of science suppression...or something like that.

On a final note, if you are a Kansan who happens to be unaffiliated (or even registered as a Republican), and feels like voting in the Republican primary next week, let's vote out the wingnuts on the school board so that Iran can share this dubious approach to science all by its lonesome.  Visit the Kansas Alliance for Education to find out more.  Alternatively (and my approach as a registered Dem), make sure to educate yourself about the School Board elections for November in case the wingnuts slip by in the Republican primary (they may not, most people are pretty fed up with them).

•  I'll happily beg for tips

  <nt>

  by Dem partisan on Wed Jul 26, 2006 at 08:19:57 AM PDT

•  Ain't it amazing?

  Good luck with tossing those people out on their ears.  Sometimes I get so disgusted with this stuff I don't know what to do.

  In the meantime, the Chinese, Indians, and other sane parts of the universe are busy studying evolution and biology, getting better and better prepared to snatch the mantle of scientific leadership and creativity from the U.S.

  Jeesh.

  by Fasaha on Wed Jul 26, 2006 at 08:25:22 AM PDT

•  The American Taliban

  needs to have it rubbed in their faces continually that they are religious extremists and that all religious extremists are the same.

  I'm going to refer to this story every time I hear some American saying anything about god in the evolution debate.  "Gosh," I'll say, "You're exactly like the Iranian mullahs!  They don't let people talk about science either.  I'm surprised you guys want to fight each other because you believe all the same things!  You all want to live in the Stone Age and drag the rest of us back there with you.  You could be brothers!!"

  Thanks for the good frame, Dem partisan.

  by Loquatrix on Wed Jul 26, 2006 at 08:28:28 AM PDT

•  Meddlesome clerics

  great find, thanks!

  by Eiron on Wed Jul 26, 2006 at 08:33:13 AM PDT

•  strange 21st century

  Economic strength today depends upon science. Duh.

  But of course Bush and Cheney already "have theirs" and so "screw everybody else". That seems reasonable (not).

  by libertyisliberal on Wed Jul 26, 2006 at 08:46:15 AM PDT

•  Nice find!

  Ugh, I hate hearing stories like this.  I really wish the country would wake up and see how much the wingnuts have in common with the Islamic theocrats they so fear.

  I know religion can be a benign force, and I really wish the theocrats would allow it to be so.

  by gkn on Wed Jul 26, 2006 at 08:51:23 AM PDT

•  Fundies are fundies.

  Doesn't matter what they say is "inerrant and infallible," the bible or Koran; their minds operate the same way.

  by Mumon on Wed Jul 26, 2006 at 09:18:06 AM PDT