[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

What is the difference between claiming that living things are no more than arrangements of particles and claiming that one understands life? If one knew that premise were true, one would have to know, for example, that no non-physical "soul" exists. It's OK to hold such a belief, but how do they know? Is science more like religion than its proponents admit? Of course, scientists have just as much right to their beliefs as I do to mine.

[Shryke]

What is the difference between claiming that living things are no more than arrangements of particles and claiming that one understands life?

I've not seen anyone claim that we are only "arrengements of particles", either. What I have seen, of course, are scientists sticking to what science limits them to: the physical (natural) world.