International news outlets claim Islamic cult material used in Youngstown schools

YOUNGSTOWN

A video included as a resource in the city schools science curriculum espouses creationism, and published reports claim its producer is an Islamic cult leader and Holocaust denier.

“We don’t teach creationism,” said Timothy Filipovich, executive director of teaching and learning for the Youngstown schools.

He said the video by Harun Yahya was included in the curriculum materials before Filipovich was hired by the district. “It’s really designed for [students] to learn to look at resources and determine whether those resources are reliable,” Filipovich said.

For example, students would review the evidence supporting both evolution and intelligent design and determine its validity.

“There are a great deal of publications out there,” Filipovich said. “They have to be able to determine the merit and flaws of the resources and evidence to support one argument or the other.”

The video is one of the resources students can use in an assignment to research and write a nonfiction argumentative essay.

“There are so many things out there online if they don’t learn to look at it with a critical eye to find out if it’s reliable and good-researched evidence, they’ll believe anything,” he said.

A story about the video was featured this week on the Jerusalem Post website under the headline, “Ohio school district teaching material made by Holocaust denying, Islamic sex cult leader.” A story published this week on The Daily Beast and then the Jerusalem Post reported that Harun Yahya is another name for Adnan Oktar, whom the The Daily Beast called “a creationist cult leader and Islamic televangelist who owns Turkey’s A9 TV channel.”

Read more about the matter, exclusively in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.