How Religion and Science Interact and the Issue of Evolution
A featured speaker at Westminster College's 2012 Symposium on Religious Experience in a Global Society, Dr. Eugenie Scott, Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education (Oakland, California), discusses religion, science and evolution. Almost 80 years after the Scopes trial, the debate over the teaching of evolution continues to rage. There is no easy resolution—It is a complex topic with profound scientific, religious, educational, and legal implications. Dr. Scott discusses the nature of the evolution-creationism debate and the important religious and scientific aspects of the conflict and argues that evolution must be the foundation of scientific inquiry in the United States today.
Dr. Scott, a former university professor, has been both a researcher and an activist in the creationism/evolution controversy for more than 25 years and has addressed many components of this controversy, including educational, legal, scientific, religious, and social issues. She holds eight honorary degrees, from McGill, Rutgers, Mt. Holyoke, the University of New Mexico, Ohio State, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Colorado College, and the University of Missouri-Columbia. Scott is the author of Evolution vs. Creationism and co-editor, with Glenn Branch, of Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design Is Wrong for Our Schools.