Evolution (Evolution)

by George Jelliss , Crewe, Monday, January 19, 2009, 10:36 (5785 days ago) @ dhw

DHW wrote: Since life exists, no-one will deny that something was responsible for bringing it about, and as David keeps telling us, what we have to do, at least initially, is stop attributing qualities to the force that made us. For you as an atheist, the power is impersonal and can be subsumed under the heading 'the laws of nature'. David will speak for himself, but his panentheism seems to me to come extraordinarily close to the same concept, since the refusal to attribute qualities to that power brings us simply to a name: call it 'laws of nature', call it 'God', call it 'X'. For a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim, that same power has very definite attributes, and that is the point at which we all go our separate, speculative ways. - I don't think our differences are just linguistic. The use of phrases like "something was responsible", "the force that made us", "the power is impersonal", envisage a "something" that exercises responsibility, something that has conscious purpose, something that exercises power, an intelligence. All of these I reject. I take the view that what happens just happens. Like an avalanche happens, like a tsunami happens, like a hurricane builds up and disperses, like supernovas explode and planets form. They are natural occurrences, not "Acts of God".

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GPJ