Future of Christianity in US

[Esquilax]

Fatandfaithless and others: Clearly I struck a nerve using the term macroevolution. reworded, I could just call it evolution that we cannot observe in process in a laboratory today. it extends back to origins, and as I understand it (physicist/engineer, not a biologist), the further back one goes in time, the more of a reach it is... And the more true questions remain. I think everyone can agree that not all the steps from first life to human beings are well understood. there are a number of explosions of life that were observed... And then there's that migration to human beings which is quite significant, I think, albeit maybe not anatomically or in terms of DNA.

So what if we don't have every step? A lack of knowledge is not evidence for god or creation or anything like that. And if you've got some gaps- perfectly expected given what we know of fossil formation and the sheer volume of life on the planet- but what we do know points exclusively to evolutionary theory then dismissing the genetic, morphologic, fossil and laboratory data we do have merely because of what is, at best, an argument from ignorance is not only throwing out the baby with the bathwater, it's throwing that baby into a woodchipper and then nuking that woodchipper into its component atoms.

Especially when we consider that evolution, for all its gaps, is one of the more well supported theories in all of science. Imagine what else we'd need to sacrifice if the evidence for evolution isn't sufficient, in service to your ideologically driven god of the gaps argument?

... And for esquilax I should add that the 'settings' cannot prove a designer...

The problem is more that nobody seems willing to acknowledge that they have to demonstrate that there are settings, when they argue from fine tuning.

I should also note that for me the study of the universe and nature is a form of worship since I believe in a Creator... I think it is all quite remarkable and beautiful from the limits of the observable universe to the particles that give properties to matter. The study of the creation is magnificent, science and nature being a source of truth, and there is nothing to fear in finding out more.

And what have you found- that isn't "nature is amazing!"- that could possibly constitute positive evidence for a god? Rather than an argument from personal incredulity?

LostLocke: The migration to animals that have souls, so to speak, is significant, as is the migration to humans that ask spiritual questions and create advanced civilization, in my opinion. animals that have souls interact in a unique way with humans, e.g. Dogs

You gonna demonstrate souls at any point, or just presuppose your conclusion?