Monday 9 January saw the screening on Channel 4 of the first of two hour-long programmes by Professor Richard Dawkins, entitled 'The Root of All Evil?'

Dawkins, who describes himself as a Darwinian biologist, is well known for his vitriolic anti-religious views, and once described religious education as a form of 'child abuse' in a 1996 speech to the American Humanist Association.  Noting that religious faith is gaining ground in the face of 'rational, scientific truth based on hard evidence', he attempts in this series to challenge what he describes as 'a process of non-thinking called faith'.

Part One included interviews with an evangelical pastor in the U.S.A. and an Islamic fundamentalist, drawing the comment from Times reviewer, Joe Joseph, that this 'felt like watching Mike Tyson seeking to prove his strength by asking Margaret Beckett to step into the ring with him.' (Joe Joseph, The Times, 10 Jan 2006)

Here, Dr Gerard J Hughes SJ, a Jesuit philosopher from Campion Hall, Oxford, responds to Part One of the series, and Dr Louis Caruana SJ, who teaches Philosophy of Science at Heythrop College, University of London, comments after the airing of Part Two on Monday 16 January.

 Gerard J Hughes on Part One

 Louis Caruana on Parts One & Two

 Visit the programme's web page

You can download the two articles in printer-friendly PDF format by clicking the links below:

 Gerard J Hughes
 Louis Caruana