Increasing Creationism in England: Are Muslims to blame?

While its quite clear that Creationism in the US grew out of the (Christian) Fundamentalist movement of the early 20th century, its adoption in other countries is taking other forms. Here is a news story about rising Creationism in UK:

The teaching of evolution is becoming increasingly difficult in UK schools because of the rise of creationism, a leading scientist is warning.

Head of science at London's Institute of Education Professor Michael Reiss says some teachers, fearful of entering the debate, avoid the subject totally.

But is it due to the rising population of Muslims in UK?

Prof Reiss says the rise of creationism is partly down to the large increase in Muslim pupils in UK schools.

He said: "The number of Muslim students has grown considerably in the last 10 to 20 years and a higher proportion of Muslim families do not accept evolutionary theory compared with Christian families.

"That's one reason why it's more of an issue in schools."

This is an interesting assertion and possibly true. However, are there any statistics available to support these claims? The number of Muslims has also increased in the US. But this increase is not usually implicated as a reason for the rising popularity of Creationism or ID in the US. Why make such a claim for UK? Perhaps population increase with respect to population is higher in UK - but then again, just that by in itself does not demonstrate a causal connection. I'm sure there are studies out there that are analyzing attitudes of Muslims in Europe and I hope a question about evolution is included in these surveys. If anyone is familiar with such a study, let me know.

Read the full BBC story here.