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REGISTRATION PROGRAM FAMILY SCIENCE DAYS TRAVEL POSTERS EXHIBITORS
Creationism in Germany
Friday, 13 February 2015: 10:00 AM-11:30 AM
Room LL21B (San Jose Convention Center)
Ulrich Kutschera , University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany
2015 AAAS Annual Meeting, 12 – 16 February 2015 in San Jose, California, USA
Session ID number/title: 9654, Creationism in Europe
Abstract
Creationism in Germany
Ulrich Kutschera, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany. e-mail kut@uni-kassel.de
The difference between biologists and creationists is that the former assess theories by how well they fit
empirical data, whereas the latter (i.e. Biblical literalists) evaluate facts by how good they can be
incorporated into their theistic ideology. The second way of thinking is the core principle of an influential
creationist group in Germany, the evangelical “Studiengemeinschaft Wort und Wissen” (Study Community
Word and Knowledge, W+W). Founded in 1979 by the theologian and engineer Horst W. Beck (1933 –2014),
W+W expanded ever since, with a creationist textbook in its 7th. edition, a “scientific” journal (Studium
Integrale Journal), two attractive web pages (www.wortundwissen.de, www.genesisnet.info), and a strong
lobby among Christian academics throughout Germany. W+W promotes a kind of “theo-biology” that can be
labeled as “Young Earth-Intelligent Design-Creationism”, with the Genesis-inspired “Basic Types of Life” as
central dogma. In this presentation, I summarize the origin and evolution of W+W, with special reference to
their flagship “Evolution – a critical textbook”, authored by Reinhard Junker and Sigfried Scherer (1986; 7th.
ed. 2013). This colorful monograph is sponsored/distributed by the publisher Ulrich Weyel, a member of the
“German Evangelical Alliance”. The “critical textbook” has been translated into several European languages
and is used by biology teachers in ca. 100 “Bekenntnisschulen” (faith schools) that are supported by the
German government. Finally, I will address the “open dialogue 2014” between W+W and the “Arbeitskreis
(AK) Evolutionsbiologie” (Association of Evolutionary Biologists, www.evolutionsbiologen.de), which
documents that these evangelical Anti-Darwinists adhere to a Bible-based pseudoscience, that has no place
in biology classes.
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