Does Evolution Rule Out God?

[Patrick]

So why do you put an adjective in front of evolution. And why not gravity? Do you make the same pronouncement about gravity or as Deb Haarsma says “God-Guided Multiverse”?

[gbrooks9 (George)]

@Patrick

I am not lost. My sincerely held non-religious beliefs are important to me. I am a devout atheist with both feelings and constitutional rights. In past centuries my kind were burnt on the stake and persecuted by the Church. Today in 40 countries, atheism is a crime punishable by death. An atheist blogger in Saudi Arabia has be sentenced to 1000 lashes and death.

@Patrick

It’s funny how when I have firmly held beliefs… I don’t wander around Atheist websites… i don’t discuss Atheist books…

I wonder why you are so different about this kind of thing…

[swamidass (S. Joshua Swamidass)]

@Patrick

So why do you put an adjective in front of evolution. And why not gravity? Do you make the same pronouncement about gravity or as Deb Haarsma says “God-Guided Multiverse”?

I did not put that adjective in front of my affirmation.

I rather say that I affirm evolutionary science, and I do. I also affirm that God providentially governs all things, including evolution, gravity and multiverses, though I do not know how, nor could I hope to know how. This is different than God-guided evolution, but certainly allows for it.

Other people do believe in God-guided evolution. I’m not sure how they come to this, but there is no evidence against it, so I don’t really care to dispute it.

[Patrick]

@swamidass

I rather say that I affirm evolutionary science, and I do. I also affirm that God providentially governs all things, including evolution, gravity and multiverses, though I do not know how, nor could I hope to know how. This is different than God-guided evolution, but certainly allows for it.

Who is asking you to affirm anything? I pretty much accept what we now know about evolutionary science as provisionally true until more knowledge is obtained. But I never affirm it. Nor would anybody care if I affirmed it or not.

I don’t affirm atheism either. I just see atheism as the most reasonable conclusion to draw about the world given everything I know about the world. I can tell you that my atheism causes me much less cognitive dissonance in my mind that any theism would. Without any gods, spirits, or demons, I can think clearer and reason better about the situations I find myself in while living in today’s world. Not having the baggage of beliefs, dogma, and religious doctrine makes my life more enjoyable and happier.

[scd]

so a car doesnt need a design then?

[Patrick]

Of course a car needs a human design team as well as human maintenance team to keep it running well. As Artificial Intelligence (AI) improves more and more of the design of cars will be done by AI and less by humans. The design of 2018 cars is now partially done by AI systems assisted by human coders. Today’s car manufacturing plant is mostly robots. Not many people making cars these days. How does AI fit into the ID paradigm?

[scd]

if a car need design why not human itself?

[swamidass (S. Joshua Swamidass)]

@scd

if a car need design why not human itself?

Because a human isn’t a car.

[swamidass (S. Joshua Swamidass)]

I remember @scd! So long ago it seems. He was the original @Robert_Byers.