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SUMMARY:Evolution and Belief: Confessions of a Religious Paleontologist - 
 Dr Robert J. Asher\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20120326T171500Z
DTEND:20120326T163000Z
UID:TALK36852@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:22393
DESCRIPTION:Biological evolution\, as outlined by Darwin and Wallace in th
 e mid-19th century and elaborated upon and tested by thousands of scientis
 ts worldwide ever since\, is about the diversification of living biodivers
 ity from one or few common ancestors at the root of the Tree of Life. It d
 oes not concern the origin of life or the existence of God\, yet the perce
 ption that it does is widespread. The polemic on this topic derives from b
 oth creationists and atheistic scientists who\, to varying degrees\, prese
 nt Darwinism as incompatible with religion. It is either one or the other\
 , they say\; if you are an evolutionary biologist\, you cannot be religiou
 s\, and vice-versa.\n\nI wish to address this misunderstanding by stressin
 g firstly that the Darwinian mechanism of descent with modification\, as o
 utlined in the 19th century and refined greatly since then\, is a natural 
 process of cause that is not tied to any particular belief about the role 
 of God as a creative agent.
LOCATION:The Graham Storey Room\, Trinity Hall
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