Quote:
Originally Posted by Lazortag
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But if someone says that the universe was created by an all-knowing, all-powerful being, I need evidence for that because of the enormity of their claim. That doesn't mean that it's not true, just that you shouldn't commit to believing in it without evidence.
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This is agreed upon by everyone. Nobody is saying that you, or anyone else, should accept the existence of a god as universal truth. The discussion is focused on whether or not a belief in god is inherently irrational. It is not.
To that end, your comparison to a flying spaghetti monster is not an appropriate parallel. There is evidence for a creator -- it's just not overwhelming evidence. The fact that we have not been able to demonstrate evolution from the inorganic to organic polymer life is inconsistent with the current explanations for complex life on Earth. The sheer improbability of complex life emerging on Earth could be consistent with a creator. The fact that mankind is capable of reproducing life in the vein of a "creator" also can serve as evidence that life here could have been intentionally incubated rather than spontaneously generated.
Again, that evidence is NOT conclusive by any means. It could be interpreted in thousands of different ways. But there is clearly a rational niche that a creator would fill. It is well within the realm of logical possibilities that could explain life on Earth.
To secularize this discussion, let's replace god with alien. If we really wanted to, we're just about capable of cultivating life on another planet. We could certainly deploy very simple, resilient organic life forms to foreign planets and sustain their existence. So let's pretend we did that. Now add 2 billion years of evolution. Assuming no catastrophe completely wipes out all life forms (highly unlikely, but that's what happened on Earth), according to our best science, you'd very possibly have a planet with a diverse selection of species. We would be their creators. If someone told you that they believe life on Earth originated in a similar manner -- via alien life forms that intentionally or unintentionally deposited organic life forms on Earth billions of years ago -- would you consider that irrational?
I wouldn't. It's a rational belief. It might not be accurate, it might not be the most likely possibility, but it's totally rational. That could definitely have been what happened. People get too sensitive when it comes to the word 'god'. It gets jumbled with beliefs and religious orders that have taken the concept of a creator and absolutely run wild with it. That's not to comment one way or another on the validity of religion -- just to say that an acceptance of the rationality of creator origin theories is not necessarily related to any particular organized religion.