Grumpy atheist PZ Myers (left above; with the beard) criticizes (rightly in my opinion) the presumptuous assertion of the lady on the right who asks why we should accept evolutionary theory when evolution was "made up by a guy" (presumably she's thinking of Darwin). Well of course one can anticipate straight away what approach PZ is going to take here...evolution wasn't just "made up by a guy", but it is a function of testable evidence; evolution was no arbitrary creation of Darwin, but it has evidential pointers in its direction; for example anatomical, paleontological and genetic observations which all suggest some kind of common descent is at work. (although the mechanism driving descent might be debated).
No doubt PZ will counteract by demanding evidence for the Omnigod of Christianity. Fair enough, that's a reasonable demand, but there is an issue with such evidence. For a start as I've said before intelligent-of-the-gaps arguments fail, and one is left with the evidence of the irreducible logical barrier of physics from which stem strong intuitions (intuitions I share) about this irreducibility having its origins in a sentient creator (*1). But that's not going to work for a grumpy & cynical atheist. Neither is the other sort of evidence likely to impress PZ; namely, the anecdotal & private experiential evidence of Christian living... even if we take, say, miraculous healings as an example, epistemic distance prevents easy access to the data of such experiences. In fact the whole gamut of paranormal observational irregularities & erratics (if they exist) is a closed book to those who only recognise readily testable normalcy. We cannot expect evidence regarding Deity (or the paranormal in general) to look like the evidence for the simple highly ordered objects of spring extending and test-tube precipitating science. So if grumpy PZ is really serious about wanting evidence of Deity (which somehow I doubt he is), he is just going have to get out on his bike and go and find some anecdotal evidence of his own. (Acts 17:27); let me know, PZ, if you find any in favour of deity. But then you can let yourself off the hook by assuming from the outset that such evidence doesn't exist or is disqualified and therefore no need to bother getting on that bike.
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