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Heart and Soul: In the Beginning - Part 1

In the Beginning - Part 1

07/02/2009

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, In the Beginning - Part 1

Explores the controversy in the USA between creation and evolution.

Explores the controversy in the United States between creation and evolution and investigates a spectrum of beliefs.

In the Beginning.

In scientific circles over the last 150 years, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection has become the accepted explanation for how we and all other living things evolved from primitive, single-celled ancestors.  

Most biologists in most respected universities support that explanation and most agree that that process has taken hundreds of millions of years.  Geologists now have evidence that our planet's history dates back about 4.6 billion years and cosmologists will tell you that our universe came into being through a process known as the Big Bang more than 13 billion years ago.

In spite of that, many people are guided by a different set of beliefs, based on scripture.  In the United States the incidence of such beliefs is particularly high. In a recent survey, more than 40% of Americans said they thought that humans  and other creatures had been created in their present forms and have not evolved.  Of those who did accept evolution, a third thought that it was guided by some supreme being.

In two editions of Heart and Soul, the BBC World Service explores the controversy in the United States between creation and evolution and investigates a spectrum of beliefs.

To gain insights into the minds of the personalities involved, the BBC gave microphones to two of the key players from very different viewpoints and asked them for their reactions through a series of encounters and interviews."

In the first programme we hear from Dr Eugenie Scott.  She trained as a biological anthropologist and now runs the National Centre for Science Education in Berkley California which has campaigned against the teaching of creationism in American schools.  

Though not religious herself, she is interested in the beliefs of others and on good terms with liberal theologians who are happy to accept evolution.  But she becomes more and more incredulous as she is taken to meet so-called Young Earth Creationists whose starting point is a literal interpretation of the biblical book of Genesis and who believe that the Earth, life and humans were created over six days less than 10,000 years ago.
In spite of that, many people are guided by a different set of beliefs, based on scripture.  In the United States the incidence of such beliefs is particularly high. In a recent survey, more than 40% of Americans said they thought that humans  and other creatures had been created in their present forms and have not evolved.  Of those who did accept evolution, a third thought that it was guided by some supreme being.

In two editions of Heart and Soul, the BBC World Service explores the controversy in the United States between creation and evolution and investigates a spectrum of beliefs.

To gain insights into the minds of the personalities involved, the BBC gave microphones to two of the key players from very different viewpoints and asked them for their reactions through a series of encounters and interviews."

In this second programme we hear from Dr Henry Morris III.  He is Executive vice President of the Institute for Creation Research, founded by his father. He believes a literal interpretation of the biblical book of Genesis, suggesting that the Earth, life and humans were created over six days less than 10,000 years ago.

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