I caught the last forty-five minutes of a one-hour programme on BBC 2 last night: Did Darwin Kill God? In it, Dr. Conor Cunningham, of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy at Nottingham University, argued that Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is completely compatible with Christianity. His thesis, according to the BBC’s blurb, is that the theory has been

“hijacked by extremists: …fundamentalist believers who reject evolution, and … fundamentalist atheists who claim that Darwin’s theory rules out the possibility of God”.

I’m not really sure what a fundamentalist atheist is, it sounds like a category error to me. Things are not much better over at the Centre of Theology and Philosophy’s news site – the programme is spun as:

“The main purpose of the documentary is to offer a critique of both Christian fundamentalists who reject evolution, doing so, Conor argues, because they display a complete lack of understanding about the Christian tradition, and Darwinian fundamentalists – those such as Dawkins who take Darwin’s theory beyond the domain of science and apply it to all aspects of life, and is so doing undermine the very cogency of evolution as a science”.

Oh gawd, I get extremely worked up about strawmen such as “those such as Dawkins who take Darwin’s theory beyond the domain of science and apply it to all aspects of life”. It’s a travesty of Dawkins’ views and writings, and Dr. Cunningham is being disingenuous in suggesting this. Well of course, it could be that the writer of the blurb on the Centre’s web site is as guilty of over-egging the pudding as the Beeb’s writer. However, from what I saw of the programme, Dr. Cunningham himself was furiously erecting strawmen and making non sequiturs throughout much of it. I found myself shouting “nonsense” and “category error” at the screen much of the time. As far as I am aware, Dawkins and Dennett have never stated that the Theory of Evolution has “ruled out the possibility of God”. It is simply that God is not required in the process. And while Cunningham may claim that it impossible to accept both the implications of memes and the theory of evolution, I fear he’s missed the point completely. A meme can be both itself and an objective truth (e.g. 1+1=2) simultaneously. As an aside, I rather like meme theory – it’s Zen for rationalists. It may even have some truth to it.

Dr. Cunningham is a Christian, and he sees no conflict between the Theory of Evolution and Christianity. That conviction was supported in his interviews with Francis Collins and Michael Ruse. Charles Darwin, on the other hand, would have disagreed. I’m with Darwin on this one. I see no evidence in this world whatsoever of the workings of the god of the Christians. What I did observe in last night’s programme was an awful lot of cognitive dissonance. It was truly awe-inspiring.

Update: Over at Mark Vernon’s blog, Mark thought the programme was wonderful. Sometimes I wonder about Mark. As an ex-priest turned agnostic, he often strikes me as being rather reluctant to let go of his woo-filled roots.

Update II: Now the fun begins. The programme has been cited on RichardDawkins.net. Stand by for fireworks. I have to say though that the programme struck me as a particularly meretricious piece of work. Just reading the transcript of the subtitles makes me want to whack Dr. Cunningham around the chops with a wet fish a few times.

Following hot on the heels of the BBC’s Horizon’s inexorable decline is, it appears, New Scientist magazine; now heading for the grubbier shores of tabloid journalism and bad science. A pity, I used to like reading the NS, but it’s obviously not what it was. Another once-proud flagship reduced to a “patched and ailing dinghy”…