Evolution, a 7-part series produced by Boston PBS station WGBH in partnership with Seattle’s Clear Blue Skies Productions, is an excellent introduction to the science of evolution and to many of its implications. The central question explored in the final episode, entitled “What about God?”, is whether evolution and religion are compatible. But for many people of faith, that will be the main question at the back of their minds as they watch the entire series.
NCSE has prepared a Congregational Study Guide to accompany each episode to encourage discussion and dialogue about the science of evolution and its implications for theology. The Congregational Study Guide is the work of NCSE’s former Faith Network Director, the Reverend Phina Borgeson.
Borgeson, an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church and a lecturer at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California, explained, "There are, of course, people of faith who are dogmatically closed to accepting any fraction of evolutionary science. There are also people of faith who, having thought the issues through, have no problem in reconciling evolution with their religious beliefs. It is for the people in the middle, who may be provoked by Evolution to explore the dialogue between evolution and faith, that the Congregational Study Guide is intended."
NCSE’s Executive Director, Eugenie C Scott, commented, "The National Center for Science Education’s mission is to defend evolution as a powerful, mainstream, widely-accepted science from sectarian attack. So from its beginnings, NCSE has been reaching out to the faith community to reinforce the message that evolution is not a threat to faith. In our publication Voices for Evolution, for example, we assembled statements from fifteen major religious denominations acknowledging that evolution is compatible with their beliefs. The Congregational Study Guide is another way for us to help people realize that the theory of evolution need not be regarded as antireligious.
Borgeson adds, "People of faith want to make sense of the world, using all of the resources available, including the evidence of science and the perspective of faith. That’s why it's important that people of faith speak up for science education, including evolution, in our public schools."
The guide for each episode is available to download for free at the links below.