Go ahead and speak out of both sides of your mouth, Sir David. Attenborough is the knight for truth in this interview snippet, “Attenborough on Darwin.” Attenborough blames the Bible account of creation as being responsible for the “devastation of vast areas of the land surface.” He admits, however, ”this is a gross oversimplification.” In the video, Attenborough talks about his affinity for Darwin’s thesis since his early childhood and student days at Cambridge. I’m certainly glad HE doesn’t have any blinders on!
Well read students of geography know that the development of the western interpretation of nature and culture, if one can speak of it as a homogeneous whole, had many influences, not the least of which was Judeo-Christian theology. Man has shown a natural inclination to want to understand an order and purpose for a world which appears to have come out of chaos and indeterminateness. Man believes in progress. It stares him in the face. Attenborough’s view of progress hinges on his faith in science—the modern notion of progress—the thing which gives meaning to his understanding of the world. To blame environmental destruction upon a belief in the Bible’s account of creation, however, is a pretence. Sham on you, Sir David.
© 2010, Scott Branyan