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Creation  (This lesson appears in...)

Learning Objectives:

  • Consider the similarities and differences between Christianity and science
  • Understanding of different accounts (scientific and Christian) of how the world was made

Key Questions:

Are the theories of Charles Darwin compatible with Christianity?

Learning Outcomes:

Students will:

  • Reflect upon the way in which some things are naturally in opposition to one another, while others can happily coexist
  • Analyse the relationship between science and the Christian faith
  • Analyse the links between nineteenth century naturalists and Christian faith
  • Evaluate differing reactions to Darwin’s On the Origin of Species
  • Analyse the biblical account of creation and compare it with the prevailing scientific view of how the Earth was made
  • Synthesise learning by writing diary entries for Charles and Emma Darwin

Teacher's Notes:

Please note, this lesson was previously published with downloadable clips from the film Creation (Icon, 2009, certificate PG) which were provided with permission from Icon. For legal reasons these clips were only available for a limited period and have now been removed. Now that the DVD of Creation has been released, we are happy to republish this lesson in our usual format.

STARTER
1. Ask the students to play a game of Friend or Foe. Explain that you are going to say a series of pairs, and that you want the students to decide whether the two specified things are in a state of conflict (that is, inherently contradictory to one another and in a natural state of opposition) or whether they can happily co-exist. For example, if we said 'football and cricket', students would have to decide whether it is possible to be a fan of both, or whether it is necessary to choose one over the other. You could ask the students to pass their judgements either by a show of hands, or by asking everyone to stand up in the middle of the room, and move to one side of the room or the other to show their point of view.

Here are the pairs.

• Healthy eating and chips
• X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing
• Labour party and Conservative party
• Europe and America
• Environmental concern and motor racing
• Science and religion

Allow brief discussion if there are any interesting differences or patterns in the students' voting. After the final pair, explain that today's lesson is going to be looking at the question of whether science and religion are natural enemies, or whether they can happily coexist.

MAIN ACTIVITIES
2. Play the clip from the film Creation (Icon, 2009, certificate PG). Click here to buy the DVD online.

Before showing the clip, explain that this clip occurs some time after Charles Darwin (Paul Bettany) has begun his research, but before he has written it up into publishable form. Ask the students to pay particular attention to Darwin's response to his friend's claims about the consequences of his theories.

Start time: 0.12.26 (in chapter 2 of the DVD)
End time: 0.15.14
Clip length: Two minutes and 48 seconds

The clip starts with Emma Darwin (Jennifer Connolly) looking out of a window as her husband Charles goes for a walk with two other men. The first line is Huxley (Toby Jones) saying, 'We're reforming the Linean Society'. The clip ends after Huxley's line, '...an utterly redundant Almighty.' Please note that the clip includes one instance of swearing, that you may feel is inappropriate for some classes.


Once the clip has ended ask the class the following questions:

Why do the students think that Huxley was so keen for Charles to publish his book? How would you characterise his attitude towards God and the church? Why did Charles seem unenthusiastic about Huxley's claim that Darwin had 'killed God'?

Some background information that may prove useful in the discussion:
On the Origin of Species was published in 1859. It outlined Darwin's theory that species adapt to their environment by competition, with only the best-adapted surviving in the long run – a process commonly referred to as 'survival of the fittest' (although that phrase is not to be found in Darwin's writings).

The initial response to Origin was not a clear-cut division between science and religion. Many Christians enthusiastically embraced Darwin's work, while many scientists disagreed with the science. Nevertheless, Darwin's research, coupled with the death of his daughter Annie at the age of ten, was a factor in his own loss of faith.

Darwin is often thought of as an atheist opponent of Christian faith. This was not the case. His wife Emma remained a devout Christian and Charles described his own position as agnostic rather than atheist. From his writing, it appears that he held some Deist views – that is to say, he was willing to accept the possibility of a powerful 'first cause' for the universe, but did not believe that this creator had any ongoing relationship or link to the universe that it created.

Darwin's most outspoken supporter, Thomas Huxley (the short, vociferous man in the clip) was not necessarily motivated by support for Darwin's ideas. Rather, he was concerned with establishing science as a proper profession, and was opposed to the influence of the church in that field. Prior to that time, science was largely the domain of hobbyist 'gentlemen naturalists', many of whom were clergymen who collected and studied bugs in their spare time.

Here are some quotes which you may find helpful to introduce to the discussion to reinforce all or some of the above:

Thus from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that while the planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed laws of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.
(Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species second edition (1860), page 490. The first edition, published a year earlier, did not have the words 'by the Creator' between 'breathed by' and 'into a few forms or into one'.)

My theology is a simple muddle; I cannot look at the universe as a result of blind chance, yet I can see no evidence of beneficent design, or indeed design of any kind, in the details.
(Charles Darwin, in a letter to Joseph Hooker, 1870)

It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent Theist and an evolutionist.
(Charles Darwin, in a letter to Sir John Fordyce, 1879)

My judgment often fluctuates… In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God.
(Charles Darwin, in a letter to Sir John Fordyce, 1879)

3. Hand out the worksheet Debating Darwin and ask the students (either working individually or in pairs) to work through the questions.

4. Explain that you are going to compare scientific accounts of the origins of life on Earth with the story of creation found in the Bible. The main biblical account of creation is found in the first two chapters of the Bible, Genesis 1 and 2. It is worth pointing out that this part of the Bible tells the story twice – Genesis 1:1 – 2:3 tells the story from a cosmic perspective, whereas Genesis 2:4-25 is more personal, with a greater emphasis on Adam and Eve as individuals, rather than on the creation of the planet and of humanity in general. Some Christians would argue that there is nothing in the prevailing scientific view which contradicts the Bible, while others would have extreme difficulty reconciling the two accounts.

There are a number of different Christian perspectives on how the creation accounts from Genesis should be understood. Some Christians believe that they are literally true, and that God took six days to create all life on the planet. Other Christians believe that the language used is more symbolic – that God did create the Earth and all life upon it, but that he didn't necessarily do so over such a short timescale. What Christians agree on is that the Earth didn't just happen, it was made by God, and that Genesis 1 and 2 provide a description of this process. It is probably fair to say that Genesis 1 and 2 is concerned with who is responsible for the creation of the world (God), rather than with the mechanics of how he created it.

Give out copies of the How Did the World Begin? worksheet and ask the students to read the summary of prevailing scientific theory about the beginning of the Universe. Ask them to read through the account in Genesis 1:1-2:3 and to fill in the other half of the worksheet, suggesting verses that seem to either agree with or to contradict the scientific account. Students should also write a sentence or two to summarise whether or not they think the biblical account of creation is compatible with modern scientific thought.

PLENARY / ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING
5. Darwin waited over twenty years to publish On the Origin of Species. One of the factors that is believed to have held him back was his concern for how his devoutly Christian wife Emma would react to his work. Explain that you are going to play another clip from the film Creation. This clip highlights something of the tension between Charles and Emma on the matter of Charles' research.

Start time: 0.33.27 (beginning of chapter 6 of the DVD)
End time: 0.35.30
Clip length: Two minutes and 3 seconds

The clip starts with Charles Darwin lying on his bed. The first line is Charles saying, 'Huxley is of the opinion that I should write and be done with it. 'The clip ends after Emma says, 'We both know it is a battle you cannot win.' Stop the film with the close up of Charles and before the sound of the following scene begins to fade in.


Ask students to write entries from Charles and Emma's diaries, expressing their feelings about Charles' research and the consequences for Christian faith.

You Will Need:

A copy of Creation on DVD and the means to play it.
Bibles
Copies of the Debating Darwin worksheet
Copies of the How Did The World Begin? Worksheet

  • Debating Darwin
  • How Did The World Begin?

    • Notes:

    You can optionally add your own notes below to be added to a PDF for saving or printing: