Christianity, Space and Aliens - Peter S. Williams. An essay on the cosmic loneliness of life after God. From Arn.org
Quotes and comments;
1. 'A related piece of atheological rhetoric suggests that: ‘SETI’s emphasis on the enormity of our cosmos attests to the tiny, and perhaps insignificant place we occupy in the cosmic scheme. . . The quaint little stories of our conventional religious teachings seem but musings of children at play."
- as usual in humanist thought we can see an inner contradiction at play in propositional claims. On the one hand size is related to insignicance. ie. the earth is tiny therefore it's insignificant. Well if that's true how much more true is it in relation to the brain of man? Being tiny (even in relation to the earth) it therefore must be highly insignificant. Being insignificant why should anyone believe any claim of such a minute organ? How can such a minute speck know anything about the cosmos? Know anything about ultimate reality or about god? On what basis is anything quaint? (By this definition any claim made by such a speck would be quaint.) Thus the materialist contradicts and defeats himself.
2. "It’s inevitable that if we discover life elsewhere in the Universe, it will change for ever our perspective of our own species and our own planet. . . Those people who cling to the idea that humanity is the pinnacle of creation, or that somehow we were made in the image of God, would I think receive a rude shock." - Paul Davies [25]
- well if that's true, I suppose the opposite must be true. ie. It's inevitable that if we Don't discover life elsewhere in the universe it will change forever the darwinian (evolutionary) perspective that life is the product of blind chance and thus must be ubiquitous in the universe. This would be quite a rude shock to people who claimed man was just another animal, a bit of matter with no importance.
3. Peter S. Williams has a fine website that can be found here. (You'd get more traffic if you got rid of the purple background Peter.)
Quotes and comments;
1. 'A related piece of atheological rhetoric suggests that: ‘SETI’s emphasis on the enormity of our cosmos attests to the tiny, and perhaps insignificant place we occupy in the cosmic scheme. . . The quaint little stories of our conventional religious teachings seem but musings of children at play."
- as usual in humanist thought we can see an inner contradiction at play in propositional claims. On the one hand size is related to insignicance. ie. the earth is tiny therefore it's insignificant. Well if that's true how much more true is it in relation to the brain of man? Being tiny (even in relation to the earth) it therefore must be highly insignificant. Being insignificant why should anyone believe any claim of such a minute organ? How can such a minute speck know anything about the cosmos? Know anything about ultimate reality or about god? On what basis is anything quaint? (By this definition any claim made by such a speck would be quaint.) Thus the materialist contradicts and defeats himself.
2. "It’s inevitable that if we discover life elsewhere in the Universe, it will change for ever our perspective of our own species and our own planet. . . Those people who cling to the idea that humanity is the pinnacle of creation, or that somehow we were made in the image of God, would I think receive a rude shock." - Paul Davies [25]
- well if that's true, I suppose the opposite must be true. ie. It's inevitable that if we Don't discover life elsewhere in the universe it will change forever the darwinian (evolutionary) perspective that life is the product of blind chance and thus must be ubiquitous in the universe. This would be quite a rude shock to people who claimed man was just another animal, a bit of matter with no importance.
3. Peter S. Williams has a fine website that can be found here. (You'd get more traffic if you got rid of the purple background Peter.)
posted by M. Johnson at 8:15 AM
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