Greek scientists urge teaching of evolution

[Whitney]

Sat Aug 12, 5:07 PM ET

ATHENS (AFP) - Greek scientists have called on the education ministry to insist on teaching the concept of evolution, or Darwinism, which they say is practically unheard of in the country's schools, a press report said.

"The evolution theory is included in secondary school books but it is not taught sufficiently because time is limited and teachers don't make it to the end of the book where this theory is dealt with," Manos Papadakis, head of the Greek association of bioscientists, told Kathiremini newspaper.

"It depends on the good will of some teachers if students hear anything about (Charles) Darwin," he said, warning that "nothing can be understood in biology without the evolution theory."

Papadakis said students were lacking vital information on life and their own existence and history.

A petition urging the ministry to act was signed by 200 scientists.

Darwin developed his theory of evolution and natural selection in the mid-19th century.

Greece's influential Orthodox Church which defends creationism based on the Bible did not immediately comment on the scientists'
appeal.

Yahoo News

[Woody]

Sat Aug 12, 5:07 PM ET

ATHENS (AFP) - Greek scientists have called on the education ministry to insist on teaching the concept of evolution, or Darwinism, which they say is practically unheard of in the country's schools, a press report said.

This has really surprised me.  I hadn't guessed that things were so bad in modern-day Greece but perhaps I should have know; the Greek Orthodox Church is obvious still very influencial and there is a strong religious following within the Greek community.  As close as Greece seems to me, here on the western edge of Europe, I think that we are probably far apart in many ways.

It seems that about 97% of Greeks belong to the Orthodox Church, and the Church has a big say in government policies...sounds like Greek scientists might have a bit of an up-hill battle with this one...

[Big Mac]

Can't spell Greek without REEK!!!! Hahahahahaa. Damn Medits.

[MariaEvri]

hello I am new here
I am from Cyprus, and lived in Greece for 7 years. The two countries have the same civilisation, although different accents.
Now
It is true that religion is everywhere in greece and in cyprus. There is not a disition made without priests going on TV and arguing about it. Evn a political one. I dont know if schools of Cyprus and Greece each the same thing, but indeedm in Cyprus they teach almost nothing about evolution (altough our anthropology teacher mentioned it a lot), but religion is a class touch even in the late classes of highschool.
I hope the ministry will accept the scientist' call and teach evolution and just let the kids decide on their own what they want to believe.
p.s sorry for my spellings, i suck

[SteveS]

Hey there MariaEvri - welcome to the board!  Interesting about Greece and evolution.  Don't apologize for your spelling - you spell English far better than I could spell Greek (mostly, because I can't talk, read, write, or spell Greek at all!).

[MariaEvri]

Thanks for the welcome. I forgot to add, that this seems to be the only place where atheists go to church. At least during easter.. how odd is that.

[SteveS]

That's very odd.  Why do they?  Tradition or something?

[MariaEvri]

yeah tradition mostly. But  explained to my dad that religion is a personal matter and not tradition and I ahvent been to church for more than 4 years

[SteveS]

Interesting.  I commend your choice to avoid churches.  

[MariaEvri]

well yeah I find it rediculus to go to church since I dont believe you know?
But back to the subjrct, only recently ahve people *(some) started going against the hurch, since the Government has started making plans so that people can live together without getting married in a church. Priests didnt like this and started commenting on the TV that those people are whores, prostitues and such lovely stuff like that.
People saw their real faces.

[SteveS]

well yeah I find it rediculus to go to church since I dont believe you know?

Yes - I do know.  This makes perfect sense to me!  

People saw their real faces.

Indeed.  And, this is probably a good thing.  It sounds like there's some gender-bias issues wrapped up in the priests' responses as well.  Words like "whore" and "prostitute" carry a female connotation - but wouldn't the men getting married outside of church be subject to the same criticism?  It reminds me of the blatant sexism of the Arabic world's Sharia law....

[MariaEvri]

Words like "whore" and "prostitute" .

actually the words they used were "πόρνοι" and "πορνεία" which means prostitute BOTH for males and females and the second word means prostitution. It is actually kinda funny the way they reacted, since people have been able to marry in court (not in church) for years.
Now talk has started about homosexual marriage. Oh I cant wait to see the church's reaction there!

[SteveS]

Ahhh --- got it.  Sometimes translations leave something to be desired, and I obviously read something into it that was inappropriate.  At least their reaction was "equal opportunity" concerning sex.

They'll probably have a fit about the homosexual marriages.  

Regarding courts, in the US you are allowed to be married in court as well.  I was married in a "wedding chapel" by a retired judge.  There was a little mention of God in the service, but it didn't really bug me.  It was mostly harmless.  Since most of my relatives, and my wife's relatives, are religious I figured "what the hell".  In fact, my wife's uncle is a Catholic priest, so I figured it already bugged him enough that the service wasn't taking place in a "proper" church.    He showed up wearing his priestly garb (black suit, white collar, you know).  Funny stuff.....

[Tom62]

It is very interesting to know how different countries handles marriages. In the Netherlands and Germany a marriage is not legal if it is not done by the register office of the town where you'd like to marry. The church wedding itself has no legal value. Unlike the Dutch, the Germans still prefer a church wedding on top, because the register office ceremony is there more of an administrative affair than a celebration. In the Netherlands however, the civil cervant makes the best out of it and prepares the ceremony with the couple to be married. That makes it far more personal and removes any need for a church wedding afterwards (unless you are religious). My wife insisted on marrying in a chapel as well, but not by a priest of the catholic or protestant church. We "hired" therefore a theologian who agreed with us to put just a little bit of religion in the service. That was pretty harmless and didn't bother me at all.