What makes an atheist happy? In the case of biology professor P. Z. Myers, the answer to that question shouldn't be all that difficult to discern, especially considering the fact he wrote a book titled The Happy Atheist. Though I don't know Professor Myers, should we ever meet, I suspect it is possible we could consider each other a friend, in spite of our vast difference in opinion about certain mutual topics of interest. One reason I think it's possible is because it seems that we share a few things in common. Also, I respect his honesty. For example, I agreed with him completely when he wrote that saying "abiogenesis is not evolution" is a cop-out and commend Professor Myers for his intellectual courage to admit it. After all, more than once I have asserted that life cannot evolve until it exists myself. The logical foundation for making the connection between life and its origin would seem to be inarguable -- but that doesn't keep some people from wanting to argue about it. Several of my atheist friends have tried to rebut the "Big Picture" argument presented in my book Counterargument for God by saying the ability for a living organism to change and the origin of life are two completely separate processes as unrelated as gravity and germ theories, which is just plain silly to even suggest. The hypothesis called abiogenesis might be an issue for chemistry and the theory of evolution a philosophical interest in biology, but biological organisms are created by chemical reactions forming complex structures. That little fact is undeniable. Going … [Read more...]