Intelligent Design, part II

So I had a 9 hour drive today, from Washington D.C. to Dayton. As we drove through the Appalachians I stared out the window and thought about yesterday's entry.

Really, the aliens in their UFO wouldn't have dismissed the earth so readily; they would've seen that the earth is an amazing planet -- rich and green and complex. Even if you somehow erased everyone's memory we'd wake up tomorrow, look at the world, and wonder two fundamental questions:

1) How did this happen?
2) Is there a purpose for all of this?

The first is a scientific question. The second is a philosophical or ethical one. Science does a better job of explaining the beginning of the world and how things work -- better than Genesis. What science can't explain is what was here BEFORE the Big Bang. Only Genesis can do that.

So which is more far-fetched?

If we're really all alone in the cosmos ... an accident ... well, I think it's both funny and sad. Having a god is more comforting: It's nice to believe there's something beyond the dark of night and the dark of the grave.