Nice one Mr Benn, Personally, i dont subscribe to the view that evolution is not true. Science and religion should go hand in hand. one proving the other and visa versa. You just cant take some of those advices literally, gotta see the bigger picture.
The creator thing is a bit of a head torment, how can a creation understand its creator? a table understand the carpenter. deep stuff. we think that because we have some potential we know it all, but a bit of humility goes a long way.. just need to not be arrogant with it. let others believe what they want so long as no harm is done by those beliefs.
Even as a hard core atheist, I think it's a bit harsh to call people who believe in religion idiots. We exist in a complex universe, and there's two possibil;ities for that. Everything was created, or everything has happened because of a complex chain of effects over a time longer than any of us can really comprehend.
The idea of a creator or First Cause isn't really such a stupid hypothesis, especially given how our very existance is dependent on so many conditions. If you start to believe something, then you tend to find evidence to support your beliefs and they become stronger. i don't think believers are idiots. i think they're wrong, and if intelligent believers re-examined their belief from frist principles based on everything they now know, I think they would relaise they're wrong.
(Believing that the earth is 'young' is stupid, as are a lot of other sub-beliefs. On the other hand, belief in anything requires a lot of 'faith'
For instance as an atheist, i have to believe in a couple of things.
First, I have to believe that the start of the Universe had no first cause. I've read, and not really understood, Stephen Hawkin's account of how the Universe started. It seems a bit like a fairy tale.
Secondly, the cosmological constant is incredibly exact. Any slight deviation and our Universe couldn't exist. As I understand it, the most logical explanation is a multiverse. There are an infinite number of Universes, and we live in the Universe that 'works'
Next, Quantum Theory, te fact that you can't know for certain where atoms will be. If you stare at something for long enough, eventually it will move. (Don't try it. It will take a long time)
Also, Dark Matter and Dark Energy. We can't see or detect 95% of the matter in the Universe.
I may well be misrepresenting some of the above. I'm just trying to make the point that even atheists have to have faith is some things that sound a bit like fairy tales.
