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TV REVIEWS
The Genius of Charles Darwin, Monday 8pm, Channel 4 
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Controversial scientist Richard Dawkins presents this new three-part series about Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution. But can Dawkins persuade a group of teenage students to cast off their religious beliefs and accept that natural selection is "a fact, backed up by undeniable evidence"?
Four out of 10 Brits believe that God created our world and every living creature in it, according to recent research - but Professor Dawkins certainly isn't one of them. Instead, he's positively evangelical about On The Origin Of The Species author Charles Darwin and the way he "opened our eyes to the reality of the world".
Following a join-the-dots explanation of how Darwin gradually formulated his theory - which naturally involves a copycat trip to the Galapagos Islands - Dawkins also travels to Kenya to see natural selection at work among both animals and humans.
In one memorably disturbing scene, a Nairobi prostitute who's resistant to HIV explains how she thinks God has been kind to her. But Dawkins insists: "It's not God at work here. This is the unstoppable force of natural selection." In 100 years' time, he says, the "weaker" humans whose bodies can offer no resistance will have died out: those who survive will be immune to the virus.
It all makes for a very compelling - if one-sided - argument, but what do the London teenagers think after listening politely to Dawkins waxing lyrical? Some are converted; some are left unsure; and others stick steadfastly to the religious beliefs they've grown up with. "It's up to you what you believe," shrugs one of them, while standing on a fossil-filled beach. Well said, kid!
by Jane Murphy, Monday 4 August 2008
Picture: Channel 4
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