It is exactly one week before Darwin's bicentennial. You will see a lot more posts on Darwin and evolution here at least for the next few weeks. In the mean time, the Pew Forum has released a very useful study of evolution-religion interaction in the US (hat tip to Tom Heneghan at Faithworld). Here are the major sections of the report:
Overview: The Conflict Between Religion and Evolution
Religious Groups' Views on Evolution
Graphic: Religious Differences on Evolution
Darwin and His Theory of Evolution
Evolution: A Timeline
Fighting Over Darwin, State by State
Here is the histogram of acceptance of evolution with religious beliefs in the US:
I am actually surprised that unaffiliated is only in the low 70s. But kudos to Buddhists, Hindus and Jews in the US. But why are these percentages still only in the 80s? I would have expected some of these groups in the upper 90s - after all that is the number amongst scientists. And mixed results for Muslims. These numbers are far higher than those in other Muslim countries (pdf) (though the question was asked differently in the Muslim world ... and may be a significant factor responsible for lower numbers). At the same time, on average, these US Muslims are expected to be more educated (I don't know the statistics on that) than their counterparts in the Muslim heartlands. It would be great to dig more into those numbers and find factors that correlate with education and economic factors.
Find the full report here.
What is Irtiqa?
Irtiqa is Salman Hameed's blog. A few years ago (before Facebook killed many of the blogs), it used to track stories of science & religion, especially those related to Muslim societies. That is still one of its foci, but now it dovetails more of Salman's interests including film, astronomy, science fiction, and science outreach in both Pakistan and the US.
Irtiqa literally means evolution in Urdu. But it does not imply only biological evolution. Instead, it is an all encompassing word used for evolution of the universe, biological evolution, and also for biological/human development. While it has created confusion in debates over biological evolution in South Asia, it provides a nice integrative name for this blog. For further information, contact Salman Hameed.
The blog banner is designed by Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad. You can find all his creative endeavors at Orangie.
Salman Hameed
Salman is an astronomer and Associate Professor of Integrated Science & Humanities at Hampshire College, Massachusetts. Currently, he is working on understanding the rise of creationism in contemporary Islamic world and how Muslims view the relationship between science & religion. He is also working with historian Tracy Leavelle at Creighton University to analyze reconciliation efforts between astronomers and Native Hawaiians over telescopes on top of sacred Mauna Kea in Hawaii. He teaches “History and Philosophy of Science & Religion” with philosopher Laura Sizer, and “Science in the Islamic World”, both at Hampshire College. Salman and Laura Sizer are also responsible for the ongoing Hampshire College Lecture Series on Science & Religion, and you can find videos of all these lectures below. Contact information here.
LABELS
- Arab Spring
- art
- Astronomy
- Astronomy Pictures from Pakistan
- atheism
- beliefs of scientists
- Catholic Church and science
- creationism
- education
- education in muslim world
- ethics morality and science
- evolution
- faith and medicine
- film theater and television
- Friday Journal Club
- general
- history
- humor
- intelligent design
- Irtiqa Conversations
- Islam and Modernity
- islam and science
- Islamic Calendar
- islamic creationism
- Judaism and science
- media
- Muslims in Europe
- off topic
- Pakistan
- politics of science and religion
- posts by Nidhal Guessoum
- primates
- pseudoscience
- religion and environmentalism
- Religion and Health
- Religion and Technology
- Saturday Video
- science and Native religions
- science and religion books
- science fiction
- science in muslim world
- science of belief
- science of morality
- science religion and terrorism
- UFO religions
Blog Archive
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2009
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February
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- Randi on Sagan
- The evolution of Harun Yahya's "Atlas of Creation"
- John Haught's Science & Religion Lecture Cancelled
- Darwin's tasty mistake
- Cherry-picking evidence
- BBC Radio program: Islam & Science - part 2
- Short documentary about the school situation in Swat
- Galileo's Astronomical Ale
- Short (sci-fi) story from the New Yorker
- Religion in government
- Evolutionary Psychology and Religion - from Sci Am
- BBC Radio program: Islam & Science - part 1
- Purgatory years
- Sharia in Swat - what now?
- Dead Philosophers on Death
- Oped on Darwin in the Muslim World
- Darwin bicentennial in Pakistan
- Nerd President on Science (and Darwin)
- Interview with Religion News Service
- Darwin 200 at Hampshire College
- Twisting Darwin's beliefs
- Life, God, Language and an Amazonian tribe
- Singing Darwin
- Darwin celebrations at Hampshire College
- Responding to terrorism in Pakistan
- Shermer on the use of "survival of the fittest"
- Darwin's beliefs
- Evolution and Religion in US
- Step aside Sputnik - here comes Iran
- The Tree of Life
- A new book on Haeckel and his evolutionary thought
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February
(31)
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