David Attenborough on Darwin and the Bible
Maxine Clarke
Friday, 30 January 2009 12:49 UTC
British broadcaster Sir David Attenborough presents his views on Charles Darwin, natural selection, and how the Bible has put the natural world in peril in an exclusive interview for Nature Video.
Talking about his new programme “Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life”, to be broadcast on BBC One on 1 February 2009, Attenborough singles out the book of Genesis as the root cause of man’s exploitation and devastation of the planet, and explains that evolution is vitally important because it inextricably places man as part of the natural world. He also gives a personal insight into his 50-year career as a science broadcaster and life-long campaigner for evolution.
Access the video free on Nature’s YouTube site
Main page for Nature Video channel on YouTube.
(I could not find a science communication or science broadcast group/forum so I hope this post is considered appropriate for this one.)
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Replies
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I find this video a little confusing. I have a PhD in theology and am working on one in science. The bible is not in conflict with evolution or natural selection or for that matter science. I like Darwin and think his ideas are even more amazing when we see how many of them were birthed without all the tools we have today.
Sir Attenborough expresses himself well in science…his Bible knowledge is shallow at best and seems to carry some shadow of emotional baggage. To say a book is responsible as the root causes for exploitation and devastation is preposterous. The book is an inanimate object. False ideas built by assimilating inflammatory material without consideration for logic,reason, or respect for people as individuals is what causes exploitation and devastation. This can happen in religion or in science and in fact where ever there are people.
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Amy, with the upmost respect, and I mean this, I do not understand in what sense you mean that the Bible is not in conflict with science. Let me only mention the story of Noah and the ark. Are you saying that a “literal” interpretation of the Bible is consistent with scientific findings?
I do not know whether Attenborough’s bible knowledge is shallow or not, and I agree that one should not blame a book for the world’s woes, but I think that this may be an instance of him not saying quite what he meant.
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I think that the bible as a piece of literature will either enhance a scientist experience with the world or interfere with it, dependent upon the reader’s relationship with God. For christians like myself, the bible is alive. It’s contents move my spirit closer to truth each time I read it’s words. But if a person without an active relationship with God reads the bible, the words are not alive and seem to have a definitive space and time. This restrictive quality will surely interfere with ideas of our time!
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Hi Larry,
You make some good points. The Bible is not chronologically written. The problem is many people read books about the bible and know the stories but have not really read the book for themselves. The word in Genesis for create is beginnings and recreate meaning life existed before. The book of Job and major prophets have many portions that support Darwinian evolution. I don’t see that the whole Bible was meant to be literal although some people take it that way as they do all things. It may also be that Sir Attenborough was not meaning to be literal either…I don’t think God and Science are understood with the same kind of measures but they can co-exist without dumbing either one down. Some people feel that to embrace science they lose faith but I see logic and analysis as enhancing faith. I believe God guides and inspires me but making Him the research question in a proposal likely wouldn’t get me funded.
Colleen said it well…I have found that truth from every perspective enhances whereas minds closed to God or Science miss out…
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As this is a writers’ forum, I will stick with the bit that I klow about, writing. The God botherer stuff passes me by.
The name is “Sir David” not “Sir Attenborough”.
Usage requires that you start with “Sir David Attenborough” and then switch to “Sir David”.
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Hi Michael,
Thanks for the education…I stand (or rather sit at my computer corrected) I will remember for future reference.
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I found this site which covers the God aspects of science quite nicely for those that have an interest http://biologos.org/. The founder has now been appointed as the head of NIH and has a profound interest in genetics. He headed the race to sequence the human genome from the publically funded aspect in 2000…He say what keeps him awake at night is the possibility of losing a generation of young researchers and then mentions the 10 billion dollar stimulus package…I would like to help out with that LOL
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