kpete posted this over in GD...

[LiberalAndProud]

1. I don't think there is a response to that from the perspective of faith.

My dear mother can't imagine not believing in God. As we were discussing my unbelief, she asked me how the order of the universe could emerge from chaos / nothingness.

After paraphrasing Carl Sagan. "The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by God one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity."

And then I asked, "Why is it more likely that the perfect mind of a creator has been here always and was never created but has always existed?"

She had no answer. I'll be watching that thread to see if someone else can counter the cognitive dissonance. And if they don't encounter cognitive dissonance, I wonder why not?