What is theistic evolution? Is it a good idea or a bad idea? Why should Christians care about this, and how do we think critically about it? Does the evidence point to an intelligent designer? And if so, where should we start?

In our recent study with the Barna Group, we found that about half of churchgoing teens say that "the church seems to reject much of what science tells us." Many students in the next generation think that there simply is no scientific evidence for God, and many will point to the Darwinian theory of evolution to explain the origin of life. But what about the idea of theistic evolution that's becoming increasingly popular? Did God use evolutionary mechanisms to produce all of life?

In this episode of the podcast, Jonathan talks with Dr. Stephen Meyer of the Discovery Institute to answer these questions and more as they discuss the scientific, philosophical, and theological problems with this view, the compelling evidence for intelligent design, what pieces of evidence to bring to the conversation first, and why it's important for students to understand that science and faith are not at odds.

Dr. Stephen C. Meyer directs the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute in Seattle, WA and holds a Ph.D. in the philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge. Dr. Meyer is the author of Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, the forthcoming The Return of the God Hypothesis: Compelling Scientific Evidence for the Existence of God and is an editor of Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Critique. You can find Dr. Meyer's work and other excellent resources at Discovery.org.