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A Universe Tuned for Life
American Scientist ^ | March-April 2006 | John Peacock

Posted on 02/14/2006 10:43:02 PM PST by Lorianne

Does God exist? Most scientists would probably prefer to avoid confronting this question in their professional lives, but the growth of the "intelligent design" movement makes it harder for them to maintain such distance. Intelligent design appears to be a rediscovery of the 19th-century argument from design, which perceived the manifest hand of a Creator in complex biological mechanisms such as the eye. The fallacy in this view is well exposed in, for example, Richard Dawkins's The Blind Watchmaker, which details how evolution can yield living structures of almost arbitrary complexity from a basic set of building blocks.

The genetic record essentially exhibits this process at work, including the sobering fact that you and I share more than 20 percent of our genes with worms. Nothing in life is certain, but our common genetic heritage with such primitive creatures is surely proof beyond reasonable doubt of the operation of evolution. The fact that this assertion can be disputed is a disturbing symptom of the growth of irrationality in the modern world.

Even if the evolution-deniers could be persuaded of their errors, however, the intelligent-design argument would still need to be confronted on a wider stage. A cursory search of the Internet yields many who think that the Earth is surprisingly well fitted for life and that this happy situation must result from the efforts of a designer.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanscientist.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: crevolist; education; intelligentdesign; patternrecognition; religion; science
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1 posted on 02/14/2006 10:43:02 PM PST by Lorianne
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To: Lorianne

what ever happened to entropy, isn't that part of science anymore?


2 posted on 02/14/2006 11:01:21 PM PST by seastay
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To: Lorianne
http://www.timemachinego.com/linkmachinego/images/this_is_information.jpg
3 posted on 02/14/2006 11:04:57 PM PST by seastay
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To: Lorianne

Science and Religion aren't mutually exclusive. I don't picture God running around for six days and creating things one at a time. I picture God speaking a single word, and all of Creation appearing.

Remember, the Hebrews that God revealed himself to (going by the Christian version here) were bronze-age shepards. Of course God didn't try to explain particle physics or plate tectonics to them. They wouldn't have understood.
Now that mankind has grown up, the Creator is letting us see behind the curtain a bit, to see how Creation works.


4 posted on 02/14/2006 11:06:59 PM PST by Ostlandr ( Hey! Where'd my tagline go?)
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To: Lorianne
Ah the blind Watch Maker

Paley's argument for design was beaten to death before 1900 AD.

He was contradicted by Aquinas 400 years before the ink was dry on his manuscript.

I can't understand why IDers continue to beat this long dead horse.

It's pathetic, I found a discarded watch while walking along a pathway and voila God!!!!!!!

The watch analogy wouldn't pass the test of a first year philosophy survey course on the first day.

Paley is a cartoon version of a Philosopher. He's a mile wide and half and inch deep.

Socrates would have served his heart on a platter in fifteen minutes followed by a nice bottle of Chianti.
5 posted on 02/14/2006 11:14:05 PM PST by beaver fever
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To: Lorianne

If the evolutionists are so convinced they're correct why are they so obsessed with what others believe. Personally I equate evolutionists with flat earth believers and leave it at that. They can believe in evolution, I'll believe in creation, and we will all find out the truth when we die.


6 posted on 02/14/2006 11:15:08 PM PST by A6M3
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To: seastay
what ever happened to entropy, isn't that part of science anymore?

Entropy s*cks, but not like it used to.

7 posted on 02/14/2006 11:23:37 PM PST by DarthFuzball ("Life is full of little surprises." - Pandora)
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To: Lorianne
Does God exist?

Yes.

All the evidence (life) proves that God does exist, while on the other hand there is absolutely no proof that God does not exist.

Suck on that one eggheads.
8 posted on 02/14/2006 11:24:22 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper (ETERNAL SHAME on the Treasonous and Immoral Democrats!)
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To: Lorianne

i am always amazed by people who dont believe in god. me , i do. the issue i always find about people who dont, is they become zealots to convert you...its like if they need some type of mass conversion to justify their belief in nothing. personally i find that very interesting...


9 posted on 02/14/2006 11:40:14 PM PST by Irishguy (How do ya LIKE THOSE APPLES!!!!)
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To: wrong flight

While my tax dollars teaches your chosen theory...

Sounds reasonable to you I'm sure.


12 posted on 02/14/2006 11:44:26 PM PST by DoughtyOne (If it's a "Religion of Peace", some folks aren't very religious.)
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To: wrong flight

And I say the same to you. Send your kids to private schools that teach evolution.


16 posted on 02/14/2006 11:51:15 PM PST by A6M3
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To: wrong flight

Why should I have to pay to send my kids to a school because a certain theory is a law because of certain bigots?


19 posted on 02/15/2006 12:01:16 AM PST by A6M3
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To: wrong flight

And your exclusion of the presentation of the theory of creation is not bigoted?


20 posted on 02/15/2006 12:02:59 AM PST by DoughtyOne (If it's a "Religion of Peace", some folks aren't very religious.)
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