The extraordinary case of Darwin versus God. 150 years after the publication of On The Origin of Species, an unprecedented legal battle has gripped America over an illegal attempt to teach Intelligent Design, an essentially Creationist theory which adherents claim is a legitimate challenge to Evolution. As the world*s media descended on a sleepy Pennsylvanian town, even the President took an active interest.

The trial was Kitmiller et al versus Dover District School, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. At stake was the question of how life began. Arguing against evolution are a stream of highly educated scientists and university professors who believe they can prove that the world has been designed and, so it follows, the existence of a God. In contrast the plaintiffs, Kitzmiller et al, consist largely of concerned parents fighting for their kids' education. The Dover District School Board, an elected body of local notorieties, became the first in the USA to demand the teaching of the controversial theory of Intelligent Design. This theory stipulates that nature is so complicated and existence so improbable that it cannot be accounted for by the processes of evolution. As such, life, the universe and everything must have been 'designed' by an 'intelligent agent'.

Horizon speaks to most of the significant people in the Intelligent Design movement, including Philip Johnson, Stephen Meyer and Michael Behe. The case for Darwinism is represented by, among others, Richard Dawkins and David Attenborough. Any mention of God or religion in schools contravenes the First Amendment of the American Constitution, which commands the separation of State and Church. And few things invoke greater passions in the hearts of Americans than God and the Constitution. Ever since the Dover School Board made its fateful decision, the town became the battleground for the latest skirmish in the war between religion and secularism.

Horizon asks: is the argument of the prosecution merely Creationism in disguise? Has science been committing fraud on a massive scale? And can the gaps in evolutionary theory finally be resolved?