Talking About . . . Darwin

As the world marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, his influence on the world is as enormous as ever. Whatever you think of his ideas, there’s no doubt that they have shaped science and profoundly affected many aspects of contemporary culture. Darwin’s meticulous work established the natural sciences as a serious scientific discipline for the first time. If this was Darwin’s only legacy, he would still be a towering figure in the history of science. But for most people, his name is linked only with On the Origin of Species. [...]

Pollard on Film: Creation and changing your mind

via damaris.org

Nick Pollard explores Charles Darwin’s changing belief in God, with clips from the film ‘Creation’.

Two crucial questions are posed – Why is it that you believe what you do? and What would it take to make you change your mind?

Posted via web from Tony Watkins

Do we just believe things we can’t explain? | via @thechurchmouse

It has been a central plank of ‘new atheism’ that religion exists to fill a void in people’s understanding. Where no rational explanation seems to fit, so the argument goes, people create a new belief to explain something. So, for example, people did not know where the world came from, so they invented the creation [...]

Can Atheism Save Europe?

Christopher Hitchens and John Lennox debated at the 2008 Edinburgh International Festival on the subject of ‘Can Atheism Save Europe?’ You can buy the DVD from The Fixed Point Foundation. When I posted this earlier today, it was available on YouTube, but it’s been removed.

Five minutes with Richard Dawkins

Some brief comments on Richard [...]

Roger Ebert: How I believe in God

Roger Ebert is the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and one of the most respected critics in the world. He has often commented on spiritual issues in a way which suggests he has a real interest in them, but no convictions about there being any spiritual reality. He’s not alone in this, of course. [...]

Rising superstition in Britain

According to a ComRes poll conducted on behalf of Theos, ‘70% of people believe in the human soul, 55% believe in heaven and 53% believe in life after death.’ Here is yet another example of the inconsistency of beliefs: belief in heaven is higher than belief in life after death. 5% of those who claim [...]

Spooked: Talking About the Supernatural

Books 3 and 4 in the Talking About series were published in early May this year. I was satisfied with the first two, but very pleased with how these two have ended up. They have a better balance of material in them, for one thing.

Here’s the blurb and contents list for Spooked:

‘I’ve never been [...]

Truth Wars: Talking About Tolerance

The second book (technically it’s number 2, but it was published at the same time as Sex and the Cynics) is on one of the hottest issues in our culture: how do we relate to people with different worldviews and moralities? What does tolerance really mean?

Here’s the blurb and contents list:

‘Why can’t you be more [...]