Minister of Science and Technology Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz (Jewish Home) defended the Chief Scientist of the Education Ministry, Dr. Gabi Avital, in a weekend interview. Avital has come under fire for saying schoolchildren should be exposed to opinions that criticize Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and should be aware of the opposition to current theories regarding global warming.
Minister Hershkowitz defended Dr. Avital and said that there was indeed criticism of certain aspects of the theory of evolution and that there was no reason to fire the Chief Scientist.
Dr. Avital's statements were quoted last week by the leftist-liberal Haaretz newspaper, which demanded that he be sacked. Left-wing Knesset members joined this demand and forced Education Minister Gideon Saar to appear before them and explain why he was not firing Avital. Saar said that Dr. Avital's statements were at odds with Education Ministry policy and that the schools and universities would continue teaching evolution and environmental awareness. Dr. Avital himself published a letter early this week affirming that he accepted the Ministry of Education's policies on evolution and global warming “without reservations.”
Despite this, Hebrew University stopped all studies in its classes for several minutes Wednesday to protest Avital's statements.
Bible, evolution - 'no contradiction'
Prof. Hershkowitz said that as a rabbi and scientist, he saw no contradiction between religious faith and acceptance of the basic tenets of Darwinian evolution. He quoted from the teachings of Rabbi Gedalya Nadel of Sforno, who lived three centuries before Darwin and who contended that the creation of Man in G-d's image was the final stage of a long process that began with an unintelligent creature “from the category of animals,” that developed over time into mankind.
Darwin's proofs appear convincing, Min. Hershkowitz said, but his theory “still contains sizable parts that constitute speculation that could theoretically eventually turn out to be wrong. Therefore there is no need to treat it as an absolute truth that cannot be doubted.”
One of the problems with the theory of evolution is that no one has seen mutations occur and change a living species in the period of recorded history. If mutations, which in Darwinian theory explain the evolution of different species, were the basis of that evolution in primeval times, they should be continuing to occur.
Dr. Avital had been quoted as saying: “If the educational texts write explicitly that Man is descended from apes – I will want students exposed to other opinions and to deal with them. There are many people who think the Theory of Evolution is wrong.”
The theory of global warming has come under heavy attack recently in the scientific world and has become a controversial topic instead of an automatically accepted concept, with scientists being accused of changing data and observations so as to substantiate the theory.