The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, leader of the Anglican Community, has declared his opposition to the teaching of creationism – the Bible-based account of the origins of the world – in schools. In a wide-ranging interview published in the UK daily “The Guardian” on 21 March, the first since he was elected as head of the Church of England three years ago, Williams criticised the decision of two evangelical city academies and other schools in the UK to use the bible narrative as a history of the origins of the world. According to the Anglican leader, it is an error to consider the biblical narrative of the origin of the world as a historical theory, just one of many: “If creationism is presented as a stark alternative alongside other theories I think there’s just been a jarring of categories… My worry is that creationism can end up by reducing the doctrine of creation rather than enhancing it”. The Anglican Primate, before arriving at Lambeth Palace, was a theology don in Oxford and has a distinguished career as a scholar behind him. In the UK the debate between supporters of Darwinian theories and those of creationism has not reached the vehemence that it has had in the USA, where it has divided the religious right and scientists.
