This excerpt is from a book by Paul Stock, Duel or Dialogue: The relationship between science and faith. "In recent years we have seen the demise of communism, the rise of Islam (primarily by birth rate) and the rapid expansion of Christian faith in South America, Africa and Asia. In the West we have seen a growing disillusionment with institutionalised religion and modernity. This has created a climate of openness to spirituality that generally does not include the church. Witnessing this global shift has caused the chief editors of the Economist to conclude that God is back after previously predicting the death of God. The global pervasiveness of something does not mean it is true, but it should warrant our careful attention. Also globally pervasive is the acceptance of the theory of evolution by natural selection as the best current explanation of how the biological world works. While there are many unanswered questions regarding the emergence of life on our planet, there is a strong body of evidence that supports the evolution of life over a geological time scale. Such evidence demands our thoughtful consideration and should not be dismissed as atheist propaganda or just a theory. My challenge to both sides is this. If we are going to claim to be open-minded, even fair-minded regarding the respective merits of faith in God and evolutionary theory, then we should do the best we can to investigate the evidence for each. If we are not prepared to do so we are not engaged in genuine enquiry." Paul Stock has worked at universities for 25 years. He enjoys helping students explore how faith can work in university life. He is also a Senior Tutor in Plant Biology at Massey University in New Zealand.