Atheist Literature

[naomi24]

Do any of the religious people here ever read books written by atheist authors such as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris? If ‘yes’, what have you read and what are your thoughts - and if ‘no’ why not?

[sith123]

ok, look, we do not believe evolution happened by "itself". We believe that god made certain animals able to survive in certain areas, for example camels in the dessert and polar bears in the artic. They are both made to survive in there habitat. A camel would find it hard to survive in the artic and vice versa. So this is what we believe, kind of like adaptation. However the most important thing is that we do not believe it happened by itself.

[RATTER15]

^^^ :)

[jomifl]

Sith, you will have to do better than that if you want anyone to take you seriously.. Answer my question, how is god involved in evolution?

[dickythecook]

I am still waiting for Oolong Caloophids works to be available for Kindle

[vetuste_ennemi]

Don't talk "serious" to me, Jomifl - I'm still trying to deal with the surreal images Sith's put in my head of the camel in the dessert and the polar bear in the artic.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Beats lumpy custard, doesn't it?

[vetuste_ennemi]

Straight down to Dover, Yogi. On the ro-ro. Off at Calais and turn right.

[jomifl]

Thanks vetuste, I hadn't spotted those. I guess it is not uncommon to find a dessert in an artic. :-)

[vetuste_ennemi]

No, it's humpy custard.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Two humps or one?

[jomifl]

In a sahara dessert you get one lump but in a mongolian dessert you get two lumps.

[sandyRoe]

Aren't we being just a little patronising this morning? Weather there's one S or two in desert doesn't invalidate the argument.
I think God is involved in evolution in a hands off way. He set the world spinning and it could develop without further input from him.

[jomifl]

Sandy, the argument stopped a while back and no we are not being patronising, it's just a little light relief. Perhaps you could help Sith out here by explaining what god's role in evolution is/was. If you don't have a serious answer then perhaps a prayer may help.

[sandyRoe]

"God's role in evolution is/was?"
Surely I've already covered this in the last sentence of my post at 11:20?

[jomifl]

No Sandy, you may have thought it was an answer but it was in fact a lazy cop out typical of those made by believers when faced with a question that they are not capable of answering.

[birdie1971]

Sandy - “I think God is involved in evolution in a hands off way. He set the world spinning and it could develop without further input from him.”

So you disagree with the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis?

[birdie1971]

I think that some headway has been in this debate. We now have a Christian and a Muslim accepting that Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection' was fundamentally correct in it's conclusion that all creatures change and adapt to their environments over multiple generations due to natural selection.

If plants and animals are subject to Darwinian evolution, does the same process apply to human beings? From what I have read of the Koran and the Bible, God created Man has a whole – complete and 'perfect' in His own image. No evolution was involved in the creation of homo sapiens according to sacred scripture.

That being so, we should find zero evidence for human evolution in the fossil record. Unfortunately for those who believe that God made man, we've found a great many fossils that demonstrate modern humans have evolved into the shape and configuration we all find ourselves in today. To name a few: Australopithecus sediba, Ardipithecus ramidus, Homo floresiensis, Homo sapiens idaltu... etc.

[sith123]

look jom, i have explained but if you are not going to take anything seriously than why expect me to answer your question?

[RATTER15]

Trouble is Sith it is becoming more difficult to take you seriously!!

You dont appear to know your a$$ from your elbow.

[jomifl]

Sith, it seems that what constitutes an explanation to you does not even come near looking like an explanation to me. At what point did your 'god' intervene in the process of evolution so that it would go in the way he wished. You have no more idea of that than you have of proof of the existence of any 'god' let alone the one in which you believe. I would like to see you try to prove otherwise, why don't you ask one of your imams for help, I am quite happy to wait for an answer that won't leave me speechless.