um, so, can I call you SPOCK? ; )
even as an atheist I have to admit that there had to be a guiding hand in all of this
That’s a slippery slope, my friend — if you feel you belong in the atheist camp, embrace it, go full-on atheist. Especially with a screen name like yours.
The essence of atheism — despite what God-apologists will argue all day — is not that we believe in a lack of a creator or invisible hand. Atheism is not a belief system. It is a science-based view of that world that recognises that with our current understanding of the Universe, the introduction of a God, or Gods, as Creator, is no longer a necessary place-holder. That man-made construct doesn’t add anything to our sum of understanding. Indeed, it detracts and muddies human knowledge.
Darwin’s theory — that well-established über-theory that God-apologists love to hate on — of course has two parts, diversity through genetic mutation, and evolution of specialized traits through natural selection. And while diversity through mutation is unfathomably slow, natural selection can be observed all around us, often within a single generation. Long story short, Darwinian evolution theory, combined with geological, astronomical, and sub-atomic scientific discoveries more than adequately explain biodiversity and the abundance of elements without having to introduce any “guiding hand” Creationist concepts.
lack of bounty on all the other planets of our solar system
Yeah, but you need to look beyond our tiny little solar system to get the full picture. There are an estimated 100 billion planets in the Milky Way. And another 100 billion galaxies in the observable Universe. [I’m out of my element here, I recommend the writings of Ethan Siegel here on Medium.]
In conclusion — stand fast, SPOCK, embrace atheism for it is the path to enlightenment. If you drop hints of wavering, the army of God will smell blood in the water and think you are ripe for conversion therapy 😊
If you’ll indulge me, I write about the slippery slope in this essay below:
