This is a high-quality production, aimed at correcting a problem arguably threatening the integrity of much of scientific education today: that science curricula and teachers stultify rather than encourage true science when it comes to evolutionary theory, since the latter has become a ‘no-go’ area for critical thinking.
The film weaves together the insights of six seasoned researchers/university teachers — Dr Sylvia Baker, Prof. Andy McIntosh, Prof. Stephen Taylor, Prof. Stuart Burgess, Dr Georgia Purdom and Dr Nigel Robinson — concerning the incontrovertible evidence for intelligent design that their own scientific work has thrown up.
The DVD structures itself around individual presentations on such themes as the intricacy of bird flight, the workings of the cardiovascular system of a giraffe’s neck, molecular machines, the genetic control exercised by DNA, and past historical approaches to science.
The presentation is photogenic and rigorous, the commentary interesting and accessible. The various topics are skilfully integrated into the DVD’s main thesis, partly through cogent remarks from Dr Sylvia Baker and partly by a repeated return to actual classroom activity conducted at a secondary school level. The latter footage helps make the crucial point that the training of future scientists must involve training young people in critical thinking.
To the widely held myth that science and religion are mutually exclusive, the DVD presents two powerful challenges: first, the devoutly Christian worldview of such ‘fathers’ of modern science as Michael Faraday and Robert Boyle; and second, the ‘irreducible complexity’ (i.e., unless everything works, nothing works) of biological systems, all pointing convincingly to intelligent design.
Many of us who had the privilege of a university education in science, and who thereby know for ourselves the weak basis of evolutionism, eagerly await the day when the challenges raised by this DVD will be met by calm and rational discussion from academia’s elite, rather than by the usual obfuscation and bluster.
This DVD is highly recommended, especially for students (perhaps 13 years and above) able to follow its scientific arguments.
Roger Fay MA
Ripon
