Darwin censored in the US?

A biopic about the father of evolutionary theory, Charles Darwin, may never be seen in the US. Too shocking for American fundies?

This is the theory posited by Jeremy Thomas, the movie producer, who was also behind many excellent Bernardo Bertolucci films, such as «Dreamers», «Stealing Beauty» and «The Last Emperor».

«Creation» tells the story of the father of evolutionary theory, his struggle to find a balance between faith and reason, and his crushing depression at the death of this 10-year-old daughter in 1851.

With the rights to the movie purchased by several distributors, «Creation» will premiere in the next several months around the world except in the US, despite rave reviews from the American film press.

For several decades now, Charles Darwin's scientific theories – which say that man was not created by God, but rather evolved through natural selection – have come under increasing fire from those promoting «creation science» or «creationism», which believes life was created by a supernatural being, i.e. God.

The US's republican right under George W. Bush did much to oppose evolution in schools, and polls claim only 39% believe in the theory of evolution. Democrats are more open-minded, but as Thomas stated in a interview at the Toronto Film Festival, «in the U.S., outside of New York and LA, religion rules.»

In an attempt to destroy Darwin's theories, political and religious conservatives regularly described him as a racist whose doctrine influenced even Adolf Hitler.