Just wondered what people think of this argument from ‘The God Delusion’, which purports to show that the existence of God is extremely improbable. First, a definition: an entity is complex if and only if it consists of a number of parts combined in an intricate way, so as to produce extremely statistically improbable properties. (A human being is a complex entity: not every way you fling together the atoms constituting my body is going to produce thought, action, perception, kidneys, lungs, etc.) This definition isn’t watertight, but the general idea is intuitive. Anyway, on with the argument:

1) Complex entities can come into existence in three ways: either by design, evolution or chance.

2) God is a complex entity.

3) God cannot have been designed.

4) God cannot have evolved.

5) Therefore, God must have come into existence by chance.

6) The probability of a being spontaneously coming into existence with the remarkable properties of God (omnipotence, omniscience and omnibenevolence) is extremely slight.

7) Therefore, God’s existence is extremely improbable.

I don’t actually agree with this argument, but I think it’s interesting. Any thoughts?

On one of my frequent late night trawls on the internet I dredged up this piece of ignorant, misleading and patronising creationist (or ‘intelligent design’) propaganda. The film is going to be released in the United States in early February, and features contributions from a number of eminent intellectuals, including Dawkins, Dennett, and Phillip Pettit. It seems that the makers duped all of them into appearing in the film by intentionally misrepresenting its content and stance. Another Darwinian contributor, “PZ” Myers, has published the invitation he received to appear in Expelled; you can find it here. Not only does the letter give a different title for the film (Crossroads: The Intersection of Science and Religion), but the original blurb about it on the Rampant Films website includes the claim that “Darwin provided the answer” to the question of how we exist. If this isn’t intentional mispresentation of the film’s stance and content, I don’t know what is.

What’s even more sickening is that a concerted campaign is underway to get Expelled shown to schoolchildren across the States. If schools and colleges arrange trips to see the film they will receive generous ‘donations’ of up to $10 000, the exact amount depending on how many students watch it. This information, taken from the ‘Get Expelled Challenge’ web site, is published on Richard Dawkins’s web site, and you can see it for yourself by following this link. I love the fact that there is actually a specified ‘donation structure’, detailing precisely how much your college will receive if X amount of kids see Expelled.

 The sad fact is that creationists are not the underdogs in the United States. In a 2004 poll, 55% of Americans said that they believed that human beings were created directly by God; just 13% said that human beings evolved with no divine involvement whatsoever. Demonstrating the political aspect of the evolution vs. creationism debate, 67% of those who said that human beings were directly created by God voted for Bush in the last presidential election.

Expelled is made by rich and powerful ideologues prepared to lie and bribe in order to promote their right wing politics and their fundamentalist religious beliefs.

On a lighter note, I found this hilarious (and slightly disturbing) video on Youtube. Enjoy…