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Heart and Soul: In the Beginning (Part 2)

14/02/2009

In the Beginning (Part 2)

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, In the Beginning (Part 2)

Explores the controversy in the United States between creation and evolution.

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

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 this second programme we hear from Dr Henry Morris III of the Institute for Creation Research. The Institute was founded by his father with a mission to 'equip believers with evidence of the Bible's accuracy and authority through scientific research, educational programs, and media presentations, all conducted within a thoroughly biblical framework.'  In this programme Dr Morris interviews scientists about the basis for their understanding of evolution and puts his own view that, as he believes was revealed in the Bible, earth, life and humans were created by God in six days.

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