European lawmakers condemn efforts to teach creationism.

The human rights monitoring Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe approved (48-25 vote) a report criticizing creationism, and determining that teaching creationism in schools potentially sacrifices chidlren’s education by imposing religious dogma.

The vote in Strasbourg highlighted the growth of Christian creationism, promoted by socially conservative parties in Eastern Europe, and of a Muslim variant pioneered in Turkey.

The report said that creationism was “an almost exclusively American phenomenon” but that such ideas were “tending to find their way into Europe” and affect several of the 47 Council of Europe countries.

It added that denying pupils knowledge of theories like evolution was “totally against children’s educational interests” and that creationists supported “a radical return to the past which could prove particularly harmful in the long term for all our societies.”

They seem to be a lot more sensible over there, eh?

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com and the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com