An Examination on the Controversy about Evolutionism in Korea

Since Charles Darwin published his revolutionary bookThe Origin of Species in 1859, Christian belief in God’s Creation has faced serious challenges. The theory of evolution on the origin and evolutionary development of life seemed to conflict with the view of Genesis.1Even until today, the conflict between evolutionism and Creationism is getting more and more serious in Korea. Usually this problem was raised by anti-evolutionary campaigns led by the Korea Association for Creation Research (KACR),the Society for Textbook Revision (STR)and the Institute for Revision of Evolutional Textbook (IRET). The objective of these organizations is to remove the contents of the theory of evolution from science textbooks, orat least to include Creationist teachings. Therefore, the conflict betweenevolutionism and Creationism could beintensified in the future. Also, itmight be anticipated to bringout some negative impact on the dialogue between science and Christianity. On the internet sites, we can easily findserious hostility from non-Christian people against Christians in Korean societybecause of the activities of anti-evolutionaryorganizations.