Documentary Description
There are some who believe that Darwin’s theory of evolution has
weakened religion, fuelled in part by Richard Dawkins’ publishing
phenomenon The God Delusion. Conor Cunningham argues that nothing could
be further from the truth. Cunningham is a firm believer in the theory
of evolution, but he is also a Christian. He believes that the clash
between Darwin and God has been hijacked by extremists – fundamentalist
believers who reject evolution on one side, and fundamentalist atheists
on the other.
Cunningham attempts to overturn what he believes are widely held but
mistaken assumptions in the debate between religion and evolution. He
travels to the Middle East where he shows that from the very outset,
Christianity warned against literal readings of the biblical story of
creation. In Britain, he reveals that, at the time, Darwin’s theory of
evolution was welcomed by the Anglican and Catholic Churches.
Instead, he argues that the conflict between Darwin and God was
manufactured by American creationists in the 20th century for reasons
that had very little to do with science and religion and a great deal
to do with politics and morality. Finally, he comes face to face with
some of the most eminent evolutionary biologists, geneticists and
philosophers of our time to examine whether the very latest advances in
evolutionary theory do in fact kill God.
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