Dr Fern Elsdon-Baker of the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR) appeared on BBC1’s ‘Big Questions’ last weekend, where the question ‘Is it more rational to believe in God?’ was debated.
Atheism, religion and evolutionary theory were debated by names as diverse as Alister McGrath, Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford University; Julian Baggini, writer and founding editor of The Philosophers’ Magazine and Satish K Sharma General Secretary, National Council of Hindu.
Elsdon-Baker has recently been granted £1.9m by the Templeton Religion Trust to conduct research into contemporary ‘science vs. religion’ debates. On the show, she was questioned about the idea of religion and science being in a clash:
“We have to be careful of the history here as this ‘clash’ hasn’t necessarily existed from the publication of ‘Origin of Species’ onwards. It’s a political and ideological construction we must be careful of perpetuating. The majority of people don’t see a conflict between science and religion. Science and atheism are not the same thing. They are two very different things.”
Read more about Fern’s upcoming project: CTPSR receives £1.9m funding for research into science vs. religion debates
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