28-04-2005, 11:32
OK, so let's assume for the sake of argument that an intelligent entity created Earth and humans in his image. Let's be concrete and say it was a bunch of Vogons in their huge spacecraft, and they zapped together a planet around this sun about six thousand years ago.
That's perhaps not the kind of image ID proponents have in mind, but it illustrates the point: why would such beings have any kind of moral authority? Why would we have any special relationship with such beings? Why would we assume that they are even still around?
According to the Bible, the Christian God has committed murder, genocide, torture, infanticide, and commanded others to do those things on his behalf; he is vengeful, prone to anger, unpredictable, and can be unforgiving. Why does such an entity deserve our respect and admiration? You can, of course, say that you buckle under because otherwise you'll be eternally punished, but that's an amoral, pragmatic decision driven by fear of pain and punishment.
Many scientists would find the idea of man being created by extraterrestrials fascinating. Unfortunately, the closest we have gotten to that is panspermia.
Intelligent design arguments are not about intelligent design; if science actually identified an intelligent entity responsible for the creation of man, earth, or the universe, they'd denounce that as materialistic just as much as they denounce current science as materialistic. What this is really about is power: churches are losing power to science, and people who can't cut it in the sciences (most people) don't like it.
That's perhaps not the kind of image ID proponents have in mind, but it illustrates the point: why would such beings have any kind of moral authority? Why would we have any special relationship with such beings? Why would we assume that they are even still around?
According to the Bible, the Christian God has committed murder, genocide, torture, infanticide, and commanded others to do those things on his behalf; he is vengeful, prone to anger, unpredictable, and can be unforgiving. Why does such an entity deserve our respect and admiration? You can, of course, say that you buckle under because otherwise you'll be eternally punished, but that's an amoral, pragmatic decision driven by fear of pain and punishment.
Many scientists would find the idea of man being created by extraterrestrials fascinating. Unfortunately, the closest we have gotten to that is panspermia.
Intelligent design arguments are not about intelligent design; if science actually identified an intelligent entity responsible for the creation of man, earth, or the universe, they'd denounce that as materialistic just as much as they denounce current science as materialistic. What this is really about is power: churches are losing power to science, and people who can't cut it in the sciences (most people) don't like it.
"Being based on history, the stages of the game will also be based on battles which actually took place in ancient Japan. So here's this giant enemy crab..."