Discussion 1 to Talk Back 103
Before you give answers, ask the right questions
by: JT
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Perhaps if Noon Zadi had bothered to take a look at the web site before submitting a warning about Allah's punishment, the realization might have struck that arguments for design had been submitted many times before and responded to.
Most recently we have had:
- Talk Back #88 - On accepting the existence of a "Super Intelligent Being"
- Talk Back #89 - Your demand for scientific proof will become irrelevant.
- Talk Back #90 - Another Form of Agnosticism
- Talk Back #91 - Did your home come up out of the "primordial soup"?
- Talk Back #96: Nine Problems With Evolution
- Talk Back #98: Please share my articles
These fairly well cover the field, and the various ensuing discussions fairly well demolish every argument put forward. But still, Noon Zadi had to try again. And if you follow the argument presented, there's an assumption that someone created everything (Who has made it?); there's an assumption of design (Have you seen a design which hasn't a designer ?), and there's the unwarranted leap to a conclusion that Allah was the designer (You know who ?.. It's "ALLAH).
Well, that's something new which was not in the previous submissions - the Islamic Allah as designer rather than the Christian God. But, there is absolutely no justification about why Allah in particular should be identified as the designer, just as in the Christian submissions there was absolutely no justification about why God in particular should be identified as the designer. It's just an arbitrary decision based on the preconceptions of the individual writers.
Now, design is an assumption. There is no evidence of design of humankind, design of life, design of Earth, design of our solar system, design of our galaxy, or design of the universe. The evidence is lacking. It is nowhere to be found.
But, as a thought experiment, suppose clear and incontrovertible evidence of design did exist. What would it tell us? Could it clearly identify which particular god was responsible? Could it even tell us if any god was the designer? Could it distinguish between design by a single intelligence, a team, or a committee? Could it distinguish between whether the design was result of a single plan, a series of coordinated phased plans, or a disconnected series of designs by different designers building on what they found already in existence?
The point is: even if we had evidence of design, we still would not necessarily have the facts required to identify the designer(s). And of course, we don't even have evidence of design.