When Darwin published his book on the Origin of Species, some people claimed that his theory of evolution disproved the story of creation as it is found in the book of Genesis.

Certainly, until Darwin many (though not all) Christian people assumed that the Genesis story was literally true. Though some Christians still believe this, most have recognised that Genesis was never intended to explain how the universe came to be, but rather why it exists.

That is the fundamental difference between scientific and religious knowledge. Science asks ‘how?’ religion asks ‘why?’. In that sense, science can never ‘disprove’ religion or the Bible, although individual scientists may disagree with religious views.

But more importantly, science can never answer the deep human questions about the meaning of life, which most of us want to ask.

• Is there life on other planets?
• What about reincarnation?
• Hasn’t science disproved the Bible?
• Why is religion so dull?