British broadcaster Sir David Attenborough receives hate mail from creationists

January 28, 2009

Veteran broadcaster and documentary maker Sir David Attenborough has said how he has received hate mail from creationists. The letters tell him to "Burn in Hell" after not crediting God in his natural history documentaries.

Fred Drummond, director of the Scottish branch of the Evangelical Alliance, notes that this hatred is "not representative of Evangelical Christians in the UK."

During an interview with BBC Radio 2 Attenborough was asked why he did not credit God in his shows, he replied saying how he always remembers a little child in East Africa with a worm burrowing through his eyeball. The worm cannot live in any other way. "I find that hard to reconcile with the notion of a divine and benevolent creator," Attenborough said.

Attenborough had previously criticised schools for teaching creationism alongside evolution. He said it was "terrible" when the two were taught as equal. He added "Evolution is not a theory, it's a fact, every bit as much as the historical fact that William the Conqueror landed in 1066."

Attenborough joined the BBC in 1952 and created several series on the animal kingdom. His most recent documentary, a series about Charles Darwin and evolution, is due to be broadcast in the UK at the beginning of February.