Religious fundamentalists backed by the right wing are finding increasingly stealthy ways to challenge evolution with the dogma of creationism. Their strategy includes passing education laws that encourage teaching creationism alongside evolution, and supporting school vouchers to transfer taxpayer money from public to private schools, where they can push a creationist agenda. But they didn’t count on 19-year-old anti-creationism activist Zack Kopplin.
From the time he was a high school senior in his home state of Louisiana, Kopplin has been speaking, debating, cornering politicians and winning the active support of 78 Nobel Laureates, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New Orleans City Council, and tens of thousands of students, teachers and others around the country. The Rice University history major joins Bill to talk about fighting the creep of creationist curricula into public school science classes and publicly funded vouchers that end up supporting creationist instruction Full show <–
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On the fundamental question–evolution or creation?–Americans are on the fence. According to one survey, while 61% of Americans believe we have evolved over time, 22% believe this evolution was guided by a higher power, with another 31% on the side of creationism. For some, modern science debunks many of religion’s core beliefs, but for others, questions like “Why are we here?” and “How did it all come about?” can only be answered through a belief in the existence of God. Can science and religion co-exist? Check it out
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Why is it that we often look like our parents, or even our grandparents? From Aristotle to Watson and Crick, this beautiful animation explains how we arrived at our current understanding of inheritance.
This exclusive preview is from Dara O Briain’s Science Club, a brand new six-part series starting on Tuesday 6 November at 9pm on BBC Two. Find out more at bbc.co.uk/scienceclub
New from UppruniTegundanna
Speakers:
Christopher Hitchens,Daniel Dennett quoting Paul MacCready
SpokenVerse reading Dulce et Decorum est, by Wilfred Owen
Carl Sagan,Stephen Hawking,Carl Sagan (again),Neil deGrasse Tyson quoting Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Comedian Andrew Maxwell takes five British creationists to the west coast of America to try to convince them that evolution rather than creationism explains how we all got here. Stuck on a bus across 2,000 miles of dustbowl roads with these passionate believers, Maxwell tackles some firmly held beliefs – could the Earth be only 6,000 years old, and did humans and T-Rex really live side by side? It’s a bumpy ride as he’s confronted with some lively debates along the way, but by the end could he possibly win over any of these believers with what he regards as hard scientific fact?
