On Sunday, Christians around the world will celebrate the greatest miracle in their faith: the Easter morning resurrection of Jesus Christ. For millions, this season is a period of reflection, an opportunity to ponder life's big mysteries and examine today's chaotic culture through a spiritual lens.
Last December, thinking about Christmas and the holy season, we wondered: with so many Christians believing in so many different and often conflicting ways, what, precisely, is a Christian? Tonight, and in specials the rest of this week, we continue to explore this question, shining a spotlight on two of the biggest issues that intersect with faith: science and sex. Tonight's show is called "What is a Christian: God, Faith and Hard Science."
Religion and science have clashed forever, but in America, the biggest showdown came in 1925, when evolution and creationism did battle in the Scopes Monkey Trial, and evolution won. Now, nearly a hundred years later, the scientific community is convinced human beings evolved from a common ancestor over millions of years. But guess what? The rest of the public isn't on board. In fact, polls show nearly half of us believe we were created by God, just as we are.
This battle is hardly over.
Coming in a few weeks, on Memorial Day, a $27 million dollar Creation Museum will open, just outside of Cincinnati. Correspondent Tom Foreman and I were given a tour through the museum's re-creation of the Garden of Eden, where we were suprised to find dinosaurs living right alongside human beings. The museum's founder, Ken Ham, uses theological and scientific evidence to argue that that's the way things really were when time began and God created the earth, the heavens and everything in them.
And I guess that's a big change since the Scopes days. More and more, Christians are using scientific reasoning to bolster their faith, from creationists like Ken Ham to world famous scientists like Dr. Francis Collins, who directs the Human Genome Project, supports evolution and calls himself a born again evangelical Christian.
On the flip side, science is increasingly putting faith under the microscope, seeking out real life explanations for biblical miracles, looking to prove that prayer doesn't actually heal the sick, and that a weird weather event could have parted the Red Sea.
Tonight, at 10 p.m. ET, we'll explore the relationship between faith and science, a relationship that continues to, well, evolve. Where do you stand? Does science ever make you question what you believe? Or does it actually make you stronger in your faith?
