School teaches creationism using a video produced by anti-Semitic sex cult leader


Harun Yahya. © Murad Sezer / Reuters



Youngstown, Ohio students are learning creationism alongside evolution with a video produced by Adnan Oktar, the leader of an alleged creationist Islamic sex cult in Turkey, who also denied the Holocaust.

Adnan Oktar – better known as Harun Yahya – is a Turkish televangelist for Islam that does not believe in evolution or the Holocaust. While that’s all well and good for him and those who believe in his way of thinking, the question remains as to why his material is being used to educate public school students in Youngstown, Ohio.

The video he created focuses on the Cambrian Explosion, which he claims “totally invalidates the theory of evolution.” The Cambrian Explosion is an appearance in the fossil record of “most major animal body plans about 543 million years ago,” according to Biologos.

PBS explains that many scientists believe that this was due to “the increase in oxygen that began around 700 million years ago, providing fuel for movement and the evolution of more complex body structures” along with a mass extinction prior to the Cambrian that could have created openings in the ecology of the planet.

Anne Ross Solberg, an expert on Oktar, told the Daily Beast that Yahya “undoubtedly takes inspiration from American-style creationism, Yahya creationism is far from just an American import.”

No, in fact, his creationism goes beyond the US’ “teach the controversy” method of promoting creationism in schools, going in a far more Kimmy Schmidt direction.

Oktar appears on A9 TV in Turkey, often seen surrounded by blonde women in bold makeup and tight shirts who he refers to as his “kittens,” while offering them as examples of evidence that God’s paradise is real and not the result of many hours in a hair and makeup chair. When Oktar is not on A9 TV, he is busy owning the station, according to Slate.

Aside from his religious, or cult, following, Oktar is also known for running a blackmail ring that uses young girls as favors for men of influence at sex parties. Charges against him claim that these encounters were filmed to use against the aforementioned dignitaries. Reuters reported he was convicted of running an illegal organization for personal gain in 2008, but the Daily Beast reported that the conviction was overturned in 2010.

Oktar often refers to himself as Harun Yahya – although it is also the name of his group. He frequently publishes under that name, including an book entitled The Holocaust Deception: The Hidden Story of Nazi-Zionist Collaboration and the Inner Story of the Hoax of “Jewish Holocaust,” though he has since disavowed it.

Oddities surrounding Harun Yahya aside, the question of how a video based on Islamic creationist ideology found its way into a Youngtown classroom remains unanswered.

Former presidential hopeful Ohio Governor John Kasich has been a vocal proponent of teaching creationism alongside evolution since 2010, according to Salon. Perhaps this is what opened the door to the Youngstown City School District trying to “teach the controversy” of creation science.

Since February 1, Ohio State has been in charge of the Youngstown Public School District, appointing a chief executive with the power to determine and set curriculum, according to the Washington Post. Kasich’s administration allowed the chief executive to aggressively take control of the school district.

https://www.rt.com/usa/343254-harun-yahya-sex-cult-youngstown/
* 7 Embedded Links *

Creationism is not a theory so it is not appropriate.

Thats exactly how I thought a Turkish Islamic Holocaust denying sex cult leader would look....

I see you have commented on the most controversial aspect of this story.

This isn't really offering any useful information.

What else is being used?
Is the video from this guy the only thing they are using to teach "creationism?"

Are the teachers presenting it as absolute truth and the only perspective of that side?

Are the teachers requiring students to really study what this guy is saying, word for word, testing them to make sure they can reproduce his ideas?


Is that claim made in the video?
Or is it just his personal claim that he made at some point in his life?

And there is little about the actual video.
Is this guy the only producer?
Or does he work for/happen to own a production company and worked with a team of people?
Is the video solely and entirely his opinions? Or is it a company that followed certain guidelines in developing content that he then helped make into a video?


And god forbid journalists work to find out the answer to that question.
That's much harder work than just reprinting stuff about some guy.

This article is a crappy manipulative article at best.
It's no different than people that accuse someone of being "racist" in order to dismiss everything they are even associated with as automatically evil and wrong and worthless.

I think an actual journalist would ask and answer questions like:
- what exactly did the video show.
- how much of the video did the students see.
- how much of the curriculum is based on the video.
- who exactly made the video.
- how/why exactly did the school show this video where other schools don't.
- what were the students reactions to the video.
- what do parents and faculty think of the video or what's being taught or their observations on what the kids are retaining.



As it stands this article only says:
- some students watched a video.
- the video contains some information that other scientists find relevant.
- a guy associated with the video is a bad guy.

That's not very useful or informative.
At best it's a click bait article for people that don't like the guy and are seeking out confirmation bias on their dislike of him, not to mention people that knee jerk react to "save the children!" manipulations.

The post should say public no?

Oh, I thought it was one of those newfangled Pubic Charter Schools