I expect this film will appeal to more people because it doesn't actually mention religion or creationism. It does tell us, in an awe-inspiring and thought-provoking way, with stunning visuals, much of the currently conventional, scientific view of the universe. It succeeds in combining astronomy, physics, biology and other sciences, and just hints that there may be more to all these wonders than mere chance.
Still, to me it doesn't go far enough in this direction. I've helped with a book called 'Chance or Creation' translated from an Arabic text attributed to al-Jahiz (8-9th Centuries CE) who, by the way, was the first biologist to mention evolution and natural selection - see Wikipdedia and Muslim Heritage.com. I'm also working to convince fellow Muslims and others that Islam (devotion to the One God) includes care of and responsibility for the environment (His Creation), starting from the Qur'an.
As the film is a product of the Religions and Ecology group at Yale, I was expecting it to say more about religions and Ecology. According Wikipedia, only 750 million of the world's 7 billion population are 'non-religious', and nearly 6 billion subscribe to one of the main world religions (presumably the rest subscribe to lesser ones). Surely the minority of non-religious people of the world can't continue to ignore all their neighbours in this way? Let's have a follow-up film, exploring religious AND secular teachings on the environment from all sides. A good start has been made by 'The Encyclopaedia of Religion and Nature' and on a more popular level, the book 'Green Spirituality' by Chris Philpott, but he leaves out humanism and atheism. The Earth Charter was the result of such wide discussions, and would be a good basis for the film, which would in turn also help to popularize the Charter. And I must mention our small Abrahamic Faiths contribution in the taster pocket book 'Sharing Eden'...
Still, to me it doesn't go far enough in this direction. I've helped with a book called 'Chance or Creation' translated from an Arabic text attributed to al-Jahiz (8-9th Centuries CE) who, by the way, was the first biologist to mention evolution and natural selection - see Wikipdedia and Muslim Heritage.com. I'm also working to convince fellow Muslims and others that Islam (devotion to the One God) includes care of and responsibility for the environment (His Creation), starting from the Qur'an.
As the film is a product of the Religions and Ecology group at Yale, I was expecting it to say more about religions and Ecology. According Wikipedia, only 750 million of the world's 7 billion population are 'non-religious', and nearly 6 billion subscribe to one of the main world religions (presumably the rest subscribe to lesser ones). Surely the minority of non-religious people of the world can't continue to ignore all their neighbours in this way? Let's have a follow-up film, exploring religious AND secular teachings on the environment from all sides. A good start has been made by 'The Encyclopaedia of Religion and Nature' and on a more popular level, the book 'Green Spirituality' by Chris Philpott, but he leaves out humanism and atheism. The Earth Charter was the result of such wide discussions, and would be a good basis for the film, which would in turn also help to popularize the Charter. And I must mention our small Abrahamic Faiths contribution in the taster pocket book 'Sharing Eden'...