Barbarian observes:
the universe is stamped with the imprint of a Creator.
Refraction works only by the same few simple rules that everything else works by. IDers think the universe must be designed because they see it as incredibly complex. Theists realize it must be created, because it's so incredibly simple at the bottom.
http://www.quotehd.com/imagequotes/...hensible-thing-about-the-world-is-that-it.jpg
Take off the God-filters for a change, and criticize for yourself every notion you have nothingness behind somethingness. You might find a vastly more interesting universe. You don't have to be an atheist to do great science. Neither do you have to be a theist. But my path of discovery became easier and far more interesting, after I realized how magnificent it is to have all the things we see, originating from nothing but energy and a little hydrogen.
That is worthy of awe, even if you don't think He is there. Being Catholic, I don't think you're necessarily going to hell, even if you don't believe. So I have no sense of urgency to "convert" you. But leave yourself open to the possibility that you could be wrong. It made my life richer and my journey far more rewarding.
Worth a look, no?
I feel I have investigated this question with all the genuine openness it demands. I have been as critical and open to the question of gods as I have with anything in my life. And it strikes me strongly that to do another round of "Worth a look, no?" would be farcical.
What I need now is a
new round of "Hey, you don't appear to have seen this!". But do you think any religionist here, or on YouTube, or really in any academic or faux-academic situation I have ever been in has been able to give me that?
No, I feel like I have seen all the arguments (most of them boil down to just a few forms), I have heard the appeals (they are all informal logical fallacies, so not convincing at all), and I have heard the threats (what kind of a god do some people worship, and why?). The most pernicious argument is the one that goes "Science can tell you how, but can't tell you why". This begs the question of there being a valid "why" question that leads to some teleology, which in turn conveniently terminates in a god. Except that no religion can actually answer their own "why" questions either. It actually terminates in platitudes. So if you really want to know what is going on, and you won't be satisfied with palm-off platitudes, then I have learned not to even bother asking the religious. They are universally disappointing on their own fantasy questions.
As for your particular brand of religion, it has been a plague on humanity since its sorry invention. It has encouraged poverty and the subjugation of women through its barbaric rules on human reproduction, it has colluded with just about every murderous fascist dictatorship of the Twentieth Century, it extorts money for its own political agendas from democracies through undemocratic concordats; you know I could go on at length. In short, if the Catholic church disappeared from the face of the earth tomorrow, the average effect over the next hundred years would be overwhelmingly beneficial.
So. If you see some kind of "stamp", please show me. Because I think you are deluded. There are very many interesting reasons why you might believe in Imaginary Friends and their stamps, but they are almost certainly (and I am starting to drop the "almost" these days) nothing to do with what really happens in the universe. Reality is stranger than fiction, indeed Einstein summarises that in your linked image too. From the complete lack of strangeness of the Judeo-christian mythology it becomes instantly apparent that it is fiction written by humans. And that goes for its pantheon of gods, demons, spirits and fairies too.
This is not to denigrate your posts on biology, for which you deserve much credit.
Stuart
