The Foundations of the Debate

Righteous Skeptic If God is not necessary for the operation of life this could just as well mean that there is no God. You will not consider this as a possibilty though for whatever reason. As a person who is atheist as a matter of choosing to side with the evidence rather than faith,I find that evolution does not make the case for considering the world to be without God since there is nothing in the concept that prevents a God from existing but as you say it is unecessary.I think that the idea of God is an insubstantial one since it seems unreasonable to expect such an entity to exist,if such an entity ,not existing, would not change the understanding we have of the world.
It was once thought that winds were the breath of God , that lightning was an action of God , that life could not be concieved of having a natural origin. But these ideas have all passed and further investigation has consistently taken the power assigned to God{by humans remember} and explained it in natural terms.
And the God of the Gaps has consistenly grown smaller and smaller over time. To me that suggests a pattern of constantly shrinking requirements that would be completely in line with a world where a God does not really exist but irreconcilable, IMHO, with one where God does exist. Well other than stating the obviously simple explanation {no God} , we need ask how can you possibly begin to fathom the motives of God? Well that is too bad for the bible then since those are the works of men and the universe we inhabit is the work of God {playing devil's advocate here, of course.} If, in comparing the creation to the bible, we find that the actual creation contradicts the bible should we not believe the works of God over those of men?The theory of evolution is evidentialy based so your beliefs and mine and everyone else's is irrelevant to the validity of the theory.

---

Dear Mrs Chown, Ignore your son's attempts to teach you physics. Physics isn't the most important thing. Love is.Best wishes, Richard Feynman.

Righteous Skeptic That it is considered that God was necessary for the creation of the earth does no harm to the Theory of Evolution since TOE has nothing to say about creation and would work the same with or without that consideration. You will find many Christians here who do not have a problem with the TOE so I assume this statement is merely your personal point of view on the TOE. I will do so when you take assertions such as this to the same place.