The Evolution of Evolution In The Muslim World

We knew the knowledge gap between creationists and Darwinists in the west was wide. An effort at McGill University now seeks to the understand the position of evolution in the Muslim world.

To wit, the Islam and Evolution Research Project is seeking to measure how widely accepted the teaching of evolution is in Indonesia and Pakistan. Three thousand, eight hundred students from the two countries were polled concerning the how evolution fares in Muslim schools and found a mixed bag of pedagogical treatment. Dr. Anila Asghar of John Hopkins University elucidates in a recent interview at the McGill Reporter that evolution sees a variety of approaches in schools that reflect a panoply of perspectives in the Muslim world at large–a lot like it does in the United States.

Many would say evolution is not a finite concept, but one that is effectively still evolving. In a conversation with Big Think last year, mind-body guru Deepak Chopra, said whether it’s in the east or west, “evolution, in order to be understood, has to include the creative process, which implies that consciousness is an inherent property of nature, that consciousness is not just something that expresses itself through the human nervous system, but it’s all pervasive…therefore I think that none of the theories–intelligent design or evolution–address the big picture.”