Re: atheism


Subject: Re: atheism
From: Robbie (shok@netcom.com)
Date: Fri Jan 21 2000 - 17:57:51 EST


Jim said:
<< Evolution and adaptive mutations are two different things. >>

Not really. Adaptive mutations are just really localized evolution.
Let adaptive mutations occur over hundreds or thousands of generations,
and you have evolution by any definition.

<< The last time I had a discussion of this with an informed person
(Ph.D. science sort), he told me that our current theories of evolution
could not account for the creation of life. He said if you start with
life we could explain the development, but not before that point.

The guy is one of the atheists I'm arguing with on the other listserve.
>>

That's true. But evolution has nothing to do with the creation of
living organisms; it only describes the evolution of living organisms.
(surprisingly, that's why it's called evolution :)

We currently have no idea how life (or the first primitive cells, to be
specific) actually sprang from non-living matter. But that doesn't make
it impossible without divine intervention. We just don't know yet. It
wasn't very long ago when we didn't know how organic material could be
made out of inorganic material. It was said to be impossible. Very
educated people called it proof of God's existence. But, like I've said
before, ignorance of the Real reason isn't proof that a supernatural
deity had anything to do with it. In the 1920's the Oparin-Haldane
hypothesis suggested for the first time how organic molecules could be
created from inorganic ones. In 1953 Stanley Miller was the first to
actually do it in a lab. It's been reproduced countless times since
then and it's not even that difficult. I actually saw Bill Nye the
Science Guy do it.

And incidentally, the guy who told you that we can't currently explain
the origin of the first living organisms was an Atheist. So he
apparently doesn't think our ignorance is putting any holes in his
Atheism.

-robbie
 

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