This August is the 150th anniversary of Darwin presenting his theory of
evolution through natural selection to the Linnean Society of London, and
this year is the 200th anniversary of his birth. There's lots going on to
commemorate this, including a 4 part TV programme by Richard Dawkins, called
Dawkins On Darwin. It starts on the 4th of August on Channel 4, and will not
doubt be availabe for download following its broadcast.

The Times has a great interview with Dawkins about the programme, where he
makes numerous interesting points. Here's two...

The first is about secular spirituality:

"... there is almost a spiritual side to Dawkins, a childlike wonder and joy
in the marvels of the universe. He talks about being moved almost to tears
when he took his two-year-old daughter Juliet (his only child, from his
marriage to Eve Barham), wrapped in blankets, out into the back garden in
1986 to see Halley's Comet in the night sky. Dawkins could barely see the
comet, but, aware that he would never see it again in his lifetime, he
whispered to Juliet that she might just see it when it passed again, when
she was 78. He chokes up a little talking about it again, and it reminds me
of the Ted Hughes poem *Full Moon and Little Frieda*, when Hughes's toddler
daughter is in the garden in the evening and suddenly shouts "Moon, Moon" in
the silence. It's not quite pagan worship, but "it's a fine example of
secular spirituality", says Dawkins."

And the other is about natural selection itself, which he says is "the most
important idea to occur to the human mind" and that "in many ways it's weird
that it's still being debated", but he also notes "it is not debated by
anyone who knows anything about it."

Interesting read:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_...

Ian