One sentence trump for everyone

[azharrison]

- Viruses and parasites just scream "godless cosmos or malevolent design" to me. I tend very heavily towards godless cosmos because that is what the evidence looks like, but how can I be 100% sure that some malevolent designer didnt make it that way just to kick his kicks? A benevolent designer would not make tse tse flies, or hook worms, or tape worms..and those arent even the worst ones. Fall of man doesnt help either, because any deity that would punish men like this for failing to be perfect and or worship him would also fall into the "maelvolent designer" category.

I should have been more clear: God, Satan, Vishnu, Spaghetti Monster etc... ANY diety benign or malevolent faces the same scrutiny. Are you saying that they could be lying to us about the entire 13.7 billion year origin of the cosmos, evolution, etc... seems it would be more complicated to plant the evidence than it would be to accept impirically the overwhelming evidence as it is uncovered... In this lie, there is, in my opinion, waaaaaay to many details to consider, with all the tools we use for gathering evidence, i.e. spectroscopy and carbon 14 dating come to mind as to VERY elaborate and accurate measurements, but also the forces of techtonics, fossil beds, the intricate evolution of languages and cultures, geneolgy, etc. and they all seem to tie together with amazing precision to help unravel the mysteries of the world around us.

As to the virus = malevolence question, I think the entire struggle for existance model is nothing BUT an example of the countless "arms races" between species... as dawkins says, (sorry but I am paraphrasing 'cus I don't wanna look it up ..) "whose side is god on anyway, the cheetah or the gazelle". Or sharks and seals, frigates or terns, etc.... each slowly evolves and advantage over the other resulting in so many specialized forms.