Challenging Times

The North American (NTSC) version of the ‘God: new evidence’ DVD is now available. Price $24.99 including delivery. Running time 53 minutes.

Go here to order.

Can you help us get the word out about ‘God: new evidence’?

Here are a few ideas:

• Are you on Facebook? Invite your Facebook friends to join the ‘God: new evidence’ fan page, www.facebook.com/godnewevidence
• Do you blog? Why not write a blog post about ‘God: new evidence?’
• Do you use Twitter? Tweet about ‘God: new evidence.’ We can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/godnewevidence
• Does your church have a newsletter or magazine? How about an article about ‘God: new evidence’? There is a ready-to-use press release at www.facingthechallenge.org
  /press.php

With best wishes – and thanks,

David Couchman

God: new evidence’ is a new apologetics video series from Focus, responding to some of the claims of Richard Dawkins and the ‘new atheists.’

Dawkins claims that God is a delusion and that religious faith is evil. But what if the scientific evidence itself is telling a different story? Over the past fifty years scientists have uncovered a series of amazing facts which show that the creation is an extremely unlikely place, fine-tuned in specific ways that make human life possible. It shows all the signs that it has been purposefully designed as a place for us to live. ‘God: new evidence’ is a series of videos about these remarkable discoveries that point us towards the Creator.

‘God: new evidence’ features John Polkinghorne, David Wilkinson, Rodney Holder, Peter Williams and Graham Swinerd.

The ‘God: new evidence’ videos are fully available, free of charge, online at www.focus.org.uk. They can be viewed online and embedded in other web sites. They’re also available on a high-quality DVD (priced £14.99 incl P&P) from the Focus web site, for use in churches, home groups, and Christian Unions. (Please note that the DVD is currently only available in PAL format for the UK. An NTSC format DVD for the USA will follow shortly.)

Follow ‘God: new evidence’ on Facebook.

Follow ‘God: new evidence’ on Twitter.

Richard Dawkins claims that God is a delusion and that religious faith is evil.

But in recent decades scientists have made a series of remarkable discoveries which show that the universe is a very unlikely place. It bears all the marks of being deliberately designed as a place for us to live.

This is genuinely new evidence that points to the reality of the Creator. So the physicist professor Paul Davies says ‘The impression of design is overwhelming.’

Responding to this opportunity, Focus is producing a series of short videos called ‘God: new evidence.‘ They explore how these recent scientific discoveries point towards God’s reality. We have a really excellent line-up of contributors, including John Polkinghorne (former professor of Mathematical Physics at Cambridge University) and David Wilkinson (principal of St. John’s College in the University of Durham).

We will be distributing these programmes on DVD and online through Youtube.

My personal vision is that a million people will watch the ‘God: new evidence’ videos over the next ten years.

Can you help us to reach a million people? We need to raise a total of $50,000 (£30,000) to produce and publish these programmes. (About $29,000 / £18,000 of this has already been given.)

Our next milestone is to raise $4000 (£2500) to purchase a DVD duplicator. Can you help? You can give online here (US $) or here (UK £).

Richard Dawkins says ‘The question of whether there exists a supernatural creator, a God, is one of the most important questions that we have to answer.’ He is absolutely right. Will you help us to make a public response to this question, and to reach a million people?

Focus has a long history of successfully harnessing the powers of technology to bring significant issues to the attention of audiences who may otherwise not have engaged with them. This project brings together some excellent contributors to address one of the defining questions facing our society in a clear and relevant way. I am glad to commend it to you. (John Risbridger, Minister, Above Bar Church, Southampton).

This excellent video resource will help people to realise just how incredibly finely balanced the universe is. The contributors are experts in their fields and are great at communicating big ideas in very accessible ways. This is going to be extremely useful. (Tony Watkins, Damaris)

Once again Focus is producing what promises to be an excellent resource to give Christians confidence in their faith and tools to engage effectively in mission and evangelism (Dr. Krish Kandiah, Director of Churches in Mission at the Evangelical Alliance.)

The Slipstream podcast for September is now online. In it, I’m talking to Peter Williams, author of ‘A Sceptic’s Guide to Atheism,’ about Richard Dawkins and the ‘new atheists.’ We’re also reviewing Peter’s book, and there’s a free extract online.

Go here to listen.

2009 is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of ‘On the Origin of Species…’ Richard Dawkins famously claims that Darwinian evolution makes it possible to be an ‘intellectually fulfilled atheist.’

I’m not about to get into arguments over the age of the Earth, or the reality (or otherwise) of natural selection. However, one recent survey found that:

• 25% of Britons think that evolution is ‘definitely true’
• 25% think it is ‘probably true’
• 10% are ‘young earth creationists’ – they believe the earth was made by God in a literal six-day period, about ten thousand years ago
• 12% believe in ‘intelligent design’
• The rest – more than 25% – have a confused combination of creation, design, and evolution

In other words, Dawkins and his disciples are very far from winning the argument. Or as Christian Research say in their coverage of the survey:

Of those now with strong views, the support of Darwin’s theories is roughly the same as those of his sceptics. Taking into account those that responded ‘probably true’ as well, Intelligent Design continues to have most support of the four. The support for evolution espousing atheism is little more than those who believe the ‘young earth’ theory.

I’ve always been fairly convinced that arguments about evolution aren’t likely to lead too many people to faith. In fact, the much more important issue is whether the world we see could have come about as a result of a process of blind chance. And (whatever Dawkins says to the contrary), the jury is no longer out on this one. For the past generation, astronomers and cosmologists have known what biologists have been reluctant to admit. The universe we live in is a very unlikely place, purposefully designed to make human life possible. I know at least one person (a scientist) who has come to faith as a result of thinking about the ‘cosmic welcome mat,’ – as Tim Keller calls it. It’s a permanent surprise to me that Christians get so hung up on debates about evolution and creation, or about the age of the earth, and seem to know or care so little about the universe carrying God’s signature at the vast cosmic level.

The bottom line is that if you get involved in a discussion about Darwin, don’t talk about natural selection: talk about whether or not we’re here by chance.

Read more about the survey from Theos.