How to decide is there a deity (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, January 09, 2009, 10:37 (5604 days ago) @ George Jelliss

George writes: "Chance alone cannot bring about the instantaneous miracles of improbability that DHW imagines brought about life, and consciousness. He leaves out the role of LAW. Even chance is governed by laws ... those of statistics." - As so often happens in the course of a reasoned discussion, a great deal of common ground emerges that doesn't necessarily bridge the gap completely, but at least brings the parties closer together. (What a tragedy that the Israelis and Hamas still haven't learned that lesson.) I have no problem with the argument that chance alone is not responsible for, say, evolution. On the contrary, there is a wonderful logic about the whole process. But for me above all it is the mechanism that allowed for evolution to take place that presents the unfathomable mystery. In your response to David, you write: "In the case of the origin of life the laws within which chance works are those of chemical combinations and reactions, though of course the details of how this happened have yet to be worked out in detail." That is the nub of the argument. You have faith that eventually our intelligent scientists will be able to prove that intelligence is not needed to create the necessary combinations. I am not arguing for "some divine interference", but I find the odds against this particular chance so stupendously high that I cannot take your leap of faith. That is why my judgement remains suspended. - As regards psychic experiences, you write that "they all have simple explanations in terms of psychological knowledge that we already possess." I have just posted a response to John Clinch, and would greatly welcome your simple explanations for the instances I have listed. You also say: "The evidence is not sufficient to justify the speculations that are often based on them." I have to agree, though we would need to be more precise about which speculations we regard as being unjustified.