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Evolutionary science, God & ethics: Who believes and why

A Freaky Friday Special Event, co-hosted by the Redpath Museum and the Lorne Trottier Public Science Symposium

Guest Lecturer: Dr. Brian Alters, Director, Tomlinson Project in University-Level Science Education (T-PULSE), ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ University

Half of North Americans do not believe that humans evolved; instead they typically believe that a supreme being specially created humans and have a religiously-based ethical system. What they believe about the foundational issues of evolution, and why they believe it, will be explored.

Following his lecture, there will be a screening of the one-hour PBS film entitled What About God? which draws on real human stories of people struggling to find a balance between religion and science and underscores the point that these realms are compatible, although they play very different roles in assigning order to the universe and a purpose to life.

Montage of Jesus Christ and Charles Darwin

Date: Friday, October 31, 2008
Time: 4:00Ìý±Ê²Ñ
Location: Redpath Museum Auditorium [map],
859 Sherbrooke Street West
Admission: Free

For additional information please contact either of the following:

ingrid.birker [at] mcgill.ca (Ingrid Birker)
Science Outreach Coordinator
Tel.: 514-398-4086 ext. 4094

trottiersymposium.science [at] mcgill.ca (Delores LaPratt)
Trottier Symposium Coordinator
Tel.: 514-398-2852

About the speaker

Dr. Brian Alters is a global leader in the field of evolution education and author of the best-selling Defending Evolution in the Classroom. In 2005, he was recruited as the only Expert Witness from Canada in the largest, most important, most publicized United States federal trial in over a quarter century on biological evolution, education and the U.S. Constitution. His testimony made headlines around the globe and contributed to a ruling that deemed the teaching of intelligent design in high school science classes unconstitutional.

Dr. Alters is the Tomlinson Chair in Science Education; Director, Tomlinson Project in University-Level Science Education (T-PULSE); Director, Evolution Education Research Centre; Sir William Dawson Scholar; winner of the Principal's Prize for Excellence in Teaching; and has held an appointment in the Harvard College Observatory at Harvard University for the past 10 years.

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