The idea that biology has no purpose has been mainstream scientific thinking for a hundred years. But why does scientist Dr Denis Alexander think otherwise? He joins James on the panel along with our other Cambridge scholar Dr Natasha Moore.
In this Episode
Science and religion have often been pitted against each other, as if they're polar opposites. How accurate is this depiction? James and the panel discuss the compatibility of the Christian faith with evolutionary biology.
Science fiction seems like it’s becoming more like science fact with the advent of bionic limbs, computer chips in the brain and human genome editing. But the implications for the future of humanity are far from clear. We explore the next frontier in technology, transhumanism and what religion has to offer in our quest to become better, stronger and faster than ever before.
It's Media Literacy week at the ABC. The panel takes a look at religious literacy in the media and society, to find out about how the media reports on religion, the way it shapes what we know and how we talk about it.
More Information
More information on Dr Denis Alexander's lecture series is available at "Genetics: God and the future of humanity." Find out more about his Australian tour on the ISCAST webpage.
Read Dr Natasha Moore's article on evolution at "Monkey on our Back: Unravelling the 'Evolution Myth."
To listen to the full interview with Bioethicist David Kirchhoffer, visit the Philosopher's Zone website.
Find out more about ABC's Media Literacy Week here.
Guests:
Dr Denis Alexander has spent 40 years researching molecular biology around the world. He's also Emeritus Fellow and Founding Director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion at Cambridge. He authored and edited countless books, his latest is Is there a Purpose in biology?
Dr Natasha Moore is a research fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity. She has a PhD from Cambridge in English Literature and is the editor of 10 Tips for Atheists, and other conversations in faith and culture.
Presenter:
James Carleton
Producers:
Karen Tong/ Hong Jiang/ Ian Coombe