Just in time for Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday next week, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has posted an extensive research package examining the debate about evolution, Darwinism and religion in the United States. “The Debate over Evolution” is a treasure trove of information about the debate and especially useful for the lists breaking down views of the main religious groups and the political fight over Darwinism state by state.

(Photo: British Darwin commemorative stamp, 29 Dec 2008/Royal Mail)

Here are the main entries:

• Overview: Fighting Over Evolution
• Darwin and His Theory of Evolution
• The Social and Legal Dimensions of the Evolution Debate in the U.S.
• Religious Groups’ Views on Evolution
• Fighting Over Darwin, State by State
• Evolution: A Timeline
• Graphic: Religious Differences on the Question of Evolution

Speaking of Darwin, we’ve done several posts about the Turkish anti-Darwin campaigner Harun Yahya and his Islamic creationst campaign against evolution. Most of the attention on this has been on his mega-book Atlas of Creation, how it’s being distributed in Europe and what the reaction to it has been.

His office has just sent me the photo at right of an anti-evolution stand they’ve set up in the mall at the Burj Dubai skyscraper in Dubai. 
We’re bound to hear a lot more about Darwin, evolution and faith this year, as it’s also the 150th anniversary of the publication of On The Origin Of Species. This debate has been going on for decades and the pros and cons have been gone through a thousand times. Is there anything new to say about this?