Science versus Religion

Discussions of science versus religion often devolve into this sort of standoff:

Person 1: “I do not accept the Bible as an authoritative source”.

Person 2: “But the Bible says you’re wrong”.

From this point in a conversation, how can you have any meaningful discussion about science and religion?

Well, I’ve just listened to another great program from ABC’s Radio National called Big Ideas, and it dances around this very question with hardly a reference to the bible.

The topic was Science and Faith, and in the program two men are interviewed. One is a Christian and the other a scientist. They are self-confessed friends and we are warned early on not to expect a stand-up winner-take-all brawl of the sort we often see on Q and A. Instead the guests in this program show interest and respect for each other, even though they have great differences in many of their views.

Guests:

• Marcus Chown, Science writer, broadcaster and currently cosmology consultant for the New Scientist magazine
• Francis Spufford, British author

Moderator: Peter Mares, Contributing editor to the online journal Inside Story

I found it engrossing, and I hope you can set aside a quiet 50 minutes to listen.

The program was originally broadcast on 24 June 2014. On your desktop computer you can listen to the program by going to the program web site. You can also subscribe to the podcast on your smartphone or tablet by searching for “abc radio national big ideas” in your podcast software.

Or if you prefer you can listen to the program here: