Science denial flourished in Brazil when politically and religiously conservative Jair Bolsonaro recently took office. This was most evident in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when people ignored life-saving measures and pushed for prevention and treatment measures that were not backed by science.
But misinformation can take many forms, including fake news and conspiracy theories, and as a biology and science professor who studies both evolution and science education, I am particularly concerned about the Bolsonaro regime’s support for intelligent design. I was. A rebranding of Creationism, Intelligent Design claims that a Master Designer (aka God) created the Earth and its life forms. In reality, the movement spreads lies and foments conspiracy theories about evolution. Despite the lack of evidence and the fact that its suppliers are often well-funded by Christian groups, it is gaining worldwide attention.
Five years before Bolsonaro took office, during the more progressive era of President Dilma Rousseff, I wrote: chemistry, He warns fellow academics about the risks of intelligent design to society’s understanding of the evolution of Brazil and the world. Many Brazilian researchers and professors criticized me for promoting a movement that was considered fringe, even though intelligent design centers had already been established in large Brazilian universities.
After three years of President Bolsonaro’s denialist rule, my warnings seem more prescient than alarming. The Bolsonaro government has created a golden opportunity for intelligent design to gain visibility, give its leaders political and media clout, and, incredibly, academic relevance to creationism. Restoring faith in science and the separation of church and state now rests with the recently elected president, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, aka Lula. Lula should also avoid persecuting those who come to believe that creationism defines life on earth. Brazilian society will have to help.
Public funding may have played an important role in the growth of creationism in Brazil. An intelligent design research group led by two Ph.D. Scientists at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte have been approved by the Bolsonaro government to join the Brazilian National Council for Science and Technology Development (CNPq), a public body that approves and funds research in Brazil. .
The group is affiliated with three of Brazil’s most prestigious universities and is technically eligible for public funding, but it’s unclear if it actually does. Still, this is intellectually alarming. Her two universities, the State University of Campinas and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, are public, although Brazil, like the United States, is a constitutionally secular nation. A third private university, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, houses a research center for intelligent design in partnership with the Discovery Institute in the United States. The Discovery Institute is the de facto center of intelligent design. The near-seamless transition to Brazil shows that creationism began to permeate society with ease.
The research group says it focuses on a “philosophy of design.” But it’s not clear what that means. In reality, it appears to be a wide-ranging and confusing investigation centered around themes such as science, design, education, power grids, and innovation. By questioning evolution in a seemingly academic way, the group can be funded in a variety of ways, from a number of Brazilian funding agencies, such as CNPq, from a variety of sources. The group connects with other researchers, students, and people who subscribe to pseudoscience in art and technology. Overall, they have many opportunities to find financial support for this kind of denialist approach.
This group of researchers includes not only intelligent design proponents, but also unabashed creationists, so it’s hard to predict what kind of research they’ll do. Although one of its members claims to have evidence that dinosaurs lived symbiotically with humans, and that dinosaur samples were saved from a global flood on Noah’s Ark, the group’s Do any of your colleagues publicly disagree?
A member of the group, Marcos Nogueira Eberlin, has also been involved in anti-vaccination efforts, the use of ineffective drugs against the novel coronavirus, and the promotion of misinformation about the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. there is The Institute of Chemistry at the University of Campinas, where he worked until his retirement, issued a memo vehemently refuting his remarks.
And while the Bolsonaro government backed the Intelligent Design Research Group and gave government credence to views it claimed to debunk the theory of evolution, the Bolsonaro government cut funding for research in education and science and cut master’s students and students. Reduced research scholarships for doctoral candidates. This shows that the Brazilian government has a penchant for pseudoscience and a disdain for high-quality science.
Underlying the Bolsonaro administration’s support for creationist pseudoscience is a shift in religious currents. Brazil, a traditionally Catholic country, has recently experienced a growth of evangelical Protestantism, but tends to favor creationism in Brazil. This religious change, combined with a trend towards authoritarianism in politics, brought a complete storm. To illustrate how religious issues are central to Brazil, Bolsonaro and Lula kicked off the 2022 election campaign by pleasing the most radical evangelical segment of voters. Mr Bolsonaro and his supporters have described the campaign as “between good and bad”, arguing that if Mr Lula is elected, the church will be closed. Lula, who was president before Rousseff and Bolsonaro, replied that Mr Bolsonaro must be possessed by the devil.
Both ignored or ignored the secular character of the Brazilian state as laid down in the Constitution.
Bolsonaro narrowly lost to Lula in the October 2022 presidential election. However, the confusion between God and politics, which has a negative impact on science, is likely to continue in Brazil. The reason is not only that many Bolsonaro supporters have not accepted his defeat, but also that newly elected members of the House and Senate who share Bolsonaro’s ideology are carrying out anti-scientific and religiously-oriented plans. I keep doing it. I and others hope that Mr. Lula will be mindful of the dangers of pseudoscience and will once again cherish good science. It seems he began to demonstrate early in his tenure by readjusting his research grants.
And finally, universities that have lent themselves to supporting intelligent design projects need to change course and ensure that such pseudoscientific ventures do not receive government support. Only then will it be possible to undo Bolsonaro’s legacy of creationist pseudoscience.
This is an opinion and analysis article and the views expressed by the author are not necessarily those of the author. Scientific American.
