Kevin Padian discusses evolution, science, education, and religion

I became familiar with Kevin Padian as a scientist through the NOVA special Judgment Day about the Dover, PA trial over the proposed inclusion of Intelligent Design as part of the high school biology curriculum. In that case, Padian provided testimony regarding the evidence in support of Evolution, particularly the 'transitional fossils' ostensibly marking speciation over long periods of time. In Judgment Day Journalist Lauri Lebo suggests that Padian's testimony astonished journalists who were present in the courtroom that day. While many of them had tacitly accepted evolution, they had been unaware of the great depth of scientific evidence that did exist. Padian currently retains posts as Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, Curator of Paleontology at the Univeristy of California Museum of Paleontology, and President of the National Center for Science Education. I recently came across this video at fora.tv in which Padian discusses a variety of issues related to the broader science-faith discourse:



In my view he strikes all the right chords when adressing issues of faith and science. Aside from his ability to deal with the subject of religion respectfully while also firmly stating that religious thinking is not scientific thinking and therefore should not be part of science curricula, I found his discussion of methodological naturalism compared to philisophical naturalism (at 14:30 or so) to be well stated and enlightening. I also appreciate his statements about fundamentalism (at 17:00 or so) and the implication that fundamentalist thinking is not reserved for the religious. Overall, the discussion is about an hour long in total, but can be watched in segments here and is well worth the hour.