[stremba]

It actually goes further than that, but it's not talked about now because earlier ideas have been thoroughly debunked. At one time it was believed that the very CHEMICALS that make up living things were special and were considered to have the elan vital. It was believed that none of these chemicals could ever be made from nonliving chemicals in a laboratory. That's why we have organic chemistry (organic, meaning from life) as a separate branch of chemistry from inorganic. Of course, we know now that this idea was complete nonsense; many organic compounds have been made from inorganic ones in the lab without any help from living creatures. I suspect that the notion that life is somehow special apart from its chemical makeup and organization will similarly be shown to be wrong.

[ol painless]

"many organic compounds have been made from inorganic ones in the lab "

As an organic chemist I know a little something about this. The first example of this was the urea from ammonium cyanate. Now it is really called 'carbon chemistry'. Still, most of the starting materials we use in organic synthesis are derived from 'organic' chemicals from nature. But not all.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Wöhler kind of destroyed the elan vital idea about 1828. It still creeps back in Creationists literature.

[curiosity]

Unfortunately, many (but not all!) theologians before the scientific revolution sought to find God in the unknown, rather than the known. In contrast, we rational theists see God in the elegence and intricacy of the natural world that become ever more marvelous as we learn more about it.