Richard Dawkins, Dr Eugenie Scott

Chaired by Richard Dawkins. This year's speaker will be Dr Eugenie Scott, whose talk is entitled 'What would Darwin say to today's creationists?'

Many elements of the modern American creationist movement would be familiar to Darwin, especially the argument from design, which of course was very well known (and well-regarded) by educated people of his time. Young Earth creationism, on the other hand, would puzzle him; Bishop Ussher's 4004 BC age of the Earth was not considered mainstream Christian theology in the late 19th century, though certainly the view had a few adherents among the clergy.

Darwin might have heard of the 'scriptural geologists' who promoted a Young Earth view during the 19th century. But, like other scientists of his time, he would have ignored them. The current creationist strategy of disclaiming evolution as weak science would have seemed more familiar to him, however, given the criticisms of evolution he encountered during his own time.