New Darwin Film Creates Controversy : Discovery News
New Darwin Film Creates Controversy
By Benjamin Radford | Tue Jan 26, 2010 12:18 AM ET
The new film Creation depicts Charles Darwin (portrayed by Paul Bettany) as a semi-reclusive, frail scientist who spent much of his time watching animals and scribbling his observations in notebooks. He was also of course the man whose work serves as the foundation for modern biology. Darwin?s contemporary, explorer and scientist Sir Richard Francis Burton, praised Darwin's On the Origin of Species in 1863 as ?the best and wisest book of this, or, perhaps, of any age.? A century later, evolutionary biologist (and Russian Orthodox Christian) Theodosius Dobzhansky famously noted, ?nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.?
Creation tells the true story of the circumstances surrounding On the Origin of Species, about one of the world?s greatest scientists and his family, about how he was deeply in love with a religious woman who profoundly disagreed with much of his life?s work and the revolutionary theory it birthed.
There has been some controversy over the film. Movieguide.org, a Web site that reviews films from a Christian perspective, bashed the film as ?a one-sided bit of propaganda."
What's controversial about the film? It's not clear, but never before has threat of Darwin?s ideas to creationism been so clearly depicted in a mainstream movie. While other films have downplayed or glossed over the friction between On the Origin of Species and the Bible, Creation tackles it head-on.
In a pivotal scene, fellow scientist Thomas Huxley confronts Darwin, urging him to complete his long-gestating book. When Darwin says he needs more time and more evidence, Huxley barks: ?Mr. Darwin, either you are being disingenuous, or you do not fully understand your own theory. Evidently what is true of the barnacle is true of all creatures?even humans. Clearly the Almighty can no longer claim to have authored all species in under a week. You?ve killed God, sir. You?ve killed God.? Darwin himself had no interest in killing God, and was in fact uncomfortable with the social and religious implications of his work.
Though the Church of England did not officially denounce Darwin or his books upon publication in 1859, many senior Anglicans and bishops were hostile to Darwin?s ideas, and challenged them at public debates. In 2008, the Rev. Malcolm Brown, head of the Church of England?s public affairs department, issued a statement saying that the church owes Charles Darwin a belated apology for its initial reaction to Origin of Species, and ?by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand [Darwin] still.?
While the vast majority of scientists-- and virtually all biologists--accept Darwin's theory of evolution, according to some polls, fewer than half of Americans do. Even Pope John Paul II accepted evolution, and said that it did not conflict with the church's teachings.
Still, when Creation premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, producer Jeremy Thomas lamented the fact that the film had not yet found a distributor in the United States because of its controversial content. Creation was eventually picked up by Newmarket Films?-ironically perhaps best known for releasing Mel Gibson?s controversial religious film The Passion of the Christ.
150 years after Darwin published his book, God is not dead, but the controversy over his views is still alive.
less than half of america?????????
New Darwin Film Creates Controversy
By Benjamin Radford | Tue Jan 26, 2010 12:18 AM ET
The new film Creation depicts Charles Darwin (portrayed by Paul Bettany) as a semi-reclusive, frail scientist who spent much of his time watching animals and scribbling his observations in notebooks. He was also of course the man whose work serves as the foundation for modern biology. Darwin?s contemporary, explorer and scientist Sir Richard Francis Burton, praised Darwin's On the Origin of Species in 1863 as ?the best and wisest book of this, or, perhaps, of any age.? A century later, evolutionary biologist (and Russian Orthodox Christian) Theodosius Dobzhansky famously noted, ?nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.?
Creation tells the true story of the circumstances surrounding On the Origin of Species, about one of the world?s greatest scientists and his family, about how he was deeply in love with a religious woman who profoundly disagreed with much of his life?s work and the revolutionary theory it birthed.
There has been some controversy over the film. Movieguide.org, a Web site that reviews films from a Christian perspective, bashed the film as ?a one-sided bit of propaganda."
What's controversial about the film? It's not clear, but never before has threat of Darwin?s ideas to creationism been so clearly depicted in a mainstream movie. While other films have downplayed or glossed over the friction between On the Origin of Species and the Bible, Creation tackles it head-on.
In a pivotal scene, fellow scientist Thomas Huxley confronts Darwin, urging him to complete his long-gestating book. When Darwin says he needs more time and more evidence, Huxley barks: ?Mr. Darwin, either you are being disingenuous, or you do not fully understand your own theory. Evidently what is true of the barnacle is true of all creatures?even humans. Clearly the Almighty can no longer claim to have authored all species in under a week. You?ve killed God, sir. You?ve killed God.? Darwin himself had no interest in killing God, and was in fact uncomfortable with the social and religious implications of his work.
Though the Church of England did not officially denounce Darwin or his books upon publication in 1859, many senior Anglicans and bishops were hostile to Darwin?s ideas, and challenged them at public debates. In 2008, the Rev. Malcolm Brown, head of the Church of England?s public affairs department, issued a statement saying that the church owes Charles Darwin a belated apology for its initial reaction to Origin of Species, and ?by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand [Darwin] still.?
While the vast majority of scientists-- and virtually all biologists--accept Darwin's theory of evolution, according to some polls, fewer than half of Americans do. Even Pope John Paul II accepted evolution, and said that it did not conflict with the church's teachings.
Still, when Creation premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, producer Jeremy Thomas lamented the fact that the film had not yet found a distributor in the United States because of its controversial content. Creation was eventually picked up by Newmarket Films?-ironically perhaps best known for releasing Mel Gibson?s controversial religious film The Passion of the Christ.
150 years after Darwin published his book, God is not dead, but the controversy over his views is still alive.
less than half of america?????????
