Reply #63: Well, I don't think we need gods or aliens to have intelligence.

[shockra]

The real sticking point is the refusal to believe that nature can be inherently intelligent, because we've divided the world into so many dichotomies. Nature is considered passive and female opposed to God which is masculine and active.

If nature has to be passive that begs the question of an active force, thus we have to have a God that acts on through it, or on it. It's an eternal dilemma, unless you proclaim nature to be intelligent and nix the idea of God entirely.

Also, the gene theory proposes that once genes (somehow) came about, life was left alone to recombine and work everything out for itself forever. Not that different from God created the world and then left everyone to their own devices, wondering forever after if he even exists. Intelligent design (by those who don't propose a divine hand) don't claim that everything was created with intelligence, and then left alone. But that intelligence is a constant.