God. Real. Right.

The teleological argument is also called the argument from design. It goes like this:

• Things that are designed have a designer.
• The universe is designed (as appearances reveal).
• Therefore, the universe has a designer (what we call God).

David Hume points out a major problem with that argument in this way: Sometimes it is not so apparent that the world is well-designed. A night sky is fine, but what about spiders that eat their mates, or children who starve to death? The response of Christians is generally eschatological in nature–that is, it appeals to a future, perfected state. “Of course things don’t appear perfectly designed right now, but that’s because of the fall. Once Adam sinned, the design became marred or obscured by evil.” But then Hume’s point hits home. “You want me to believe an argument based on the appearance of design yet claim that the design actually is not apparent, but will be at some point in the future. That kind of argument appeals not to reason but to a leap of faith into invisible data. It’s not rational; it’s purely religious.”
The interesting thing is that evolution can do exactly the same thing. Consider Read the rest of this entry »