(April 21, 2015 at 1:58 pm)Simon Moon Wrote:(April 20, 2015 at 1:00 pm)Drew_2013 Wrote: Belief in God (theism) isn't a religion. Its an opinion we owe our existence to a personal agent who purposely created the universe and caused humans to exist. There is no religious connotation but it does have philosophical ramifications. For instance it gives reason to believe humans are special and created equal as opposed to the idea humans are the untended by product of the laws of physics and thus our existence is an accident.
There are at least 200 billion galaxies, each with at least 100 billion stars. So far, astronomers have discovered almost 2000 planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy just in our 'neighborhood', about 22% of them are in the habitable zone.
The same molecules that are part of life on Earth, seem to be elsewhere in the universe. The same laws of physics and chemistry are the same elsewhere in the universe.
It is almost a certainty that other intelligent life exists in the universe. We are not special, we are not some pinnacle of 'creation', nor are we an 'accident' in the way you use the term.
I didn't write that humans are special because we're the only intelligent beings in existence, that's an argument you're making. Whether we're the only intelligent beings in the universe or the universe is teeming with intelligent beings if we're the result of a Creator who made the universe for the benefit of intelligent beings then we have reason to think humans are special. If on the other hand humans are the unintended by product of mindless forces then we're no more special than anything else that was unintentionally created. How would you describe the cause of our existence if it wasn't intentional? Isn't an accident by definition something that unintentionally happens to happen?
