THE SELFLESS GENE
Living with God and Darwin
By Charles Foster. Hodder & Stoughton. 270 pages. £11.99
ISBN 978-0-34096-436-1
The book is written largely at a popular level, looking at two rival ideologies, Neodarwinists and Young Earth Creationism. The evolutionary process of natural selection is first introduced, followed by a chapter entitled, ‘Who’s right? Evidence and the lack of it’. Later chapters focus on what he sees as the real issue; the ethical implications of natural selection.
The author claims to be neither a professional scientist nor theologian but a professional assessor of evidence, a barrister. Creationism ‘has inoculated a whole generation against Christianity’. ‘… The principal casualty is the intellectual credibility of Christianity.’ These are serious charges and the reader would expect to settle down to a critical examination of the evidence from both the prosecution and the defence.