Religion and evolution

[Jim__]

23. A question on premises #3 and #4.

3. While the precise mechanism for the origin of life remains unknown, once life arose, the process of evolution and natural selection permitted the development of biological diversity and complexity over long periods of time.

4. Once evolution got underway, no special supernatural intervention was required.

I am aware that the Theory of Evolution is not specifically concerned with the origins of life. Does Collins accept that life itself arose as part of an evolutionary process from a chemical environment where some chemical processes were long-term, stable processes? Does he see the process of evolution as a continuous progression from non-living, stable chemical processes to chemical processes that we would describe as living? Premises #3 and #4 seem to draw a line here. I realize that we don't know the processes that led up to and, at some point, crossed this line. I think the general assumption among scientists is that there is a progression from non-life to life.

Do you know if Collins accepts the premise that life arose out of the natural processes of the universe that led to the planet earth and then the subsequent chemical environment on earth? That seems to me to be a critical assumption to accept and my guess is that Collins accepts it.