Theoretical origin of life; new earliest? (Introduction)

by dhw, Wednesday, October 04, 2017, 14:09 (2607 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: [...] I don’t want you to take this as an attack on your integrity, which is beyond question. I am simply pointing out that all of us should be careful not to disguise our opinions as scientific facts, especially when quoting others who might even disagree with those opinions. You know what a stickler I am for accurate expression.

DAVID: First, we both have integrity in this discussion, but you should be clearly aware that I use this forum to present science all the time that demonstrates the complexity of living biology as a form of propaganda that design is required, to convince others that my belief is correct.

And I for one am not only immensely grateful for the way in which you keep us informed of all the new developments, but also accept the complexity argument as a powerful case for the existence of a designer. That is why I cannot embrace atheism, but I have also made clear many times why I cannot embrace theism either. My objection here was simply to your claim that the author’s neutral statement supported your view that God did it.

DAVID: As for Darwin, he proposed a chance evolutionary process which dismisses God out of hand. The issue is 'chance' or 'randomness' at the root of evolution not the process itself. My comment above covered that point.

Darwin never dismisses God out of hand. He was so anxious to avoid having his theory misinterpreted that in later editions he frequently refers to the Creator, and emphasizes that his theory is NOT atheistic. I have frequently quoted these passages, and will do so yet again if you want me to. We both disagree with his hypothesis concerning random mutations and gradualism, but the reason why you find that hypothesis atheistic is that it does not conform to your insistence that God controlled every innovation, lifestyle and natural wonder in order to keep life going until he produced the human brain. The idea that chance governed the COURSE (as opposed to the genesis) of evolution could simply mean that was how your God designed it. Opposition to your hypothesis does not automatically mean that the opponent "dismisses God out of hand".