Testing God

Aired 2001-09-02

This first part in the series examines whether science has foreclosed on the possibility of a creator God and, if not, whether it can. The answer on both counts is no. Science is actually having to grapple with the fact that our universe, far from being explicable as a logical or mathematical necessity, is a highly unlikely place. Is this evidence that the laws of nature are a product of design? If so, surely this is indisputable evidence for God. The alternative explanation, that ours is one of an infinite number of universes, poses more problems for science than it solves.

Aired 2001-09-09

The second programme asks what piece of work is a man? Is the overwhelming evidence that we are a product of evolution final evidence that God does not exist? Does this in turn mean that we are little more than beasts, that morality and spirituality are mere illusions? On all counts, the answer is no. Programme 2 shows that a god who wanted his creations to have free-will - and therefore moral responsibility - would have to have used a process like evolution. The death of the "argument by design" is not the death of god.

Aired 2001-09-16

The final programme looks at the human brain and the human mind. Are our minds based purely on binary logic, or is there something irrational - something subjective - at the root of reason? We look at ideas in physics, neurology and psychology and suggest that, whatever you think about the existence of God, the ability to believe is a crucial part of living in a fundamentally uncertain world. If we deny this in a quest for rational "certainty", might we be denying the very thing that makes us human?