[Hraesvelg]

Come down off your cross, somebody needs the wood. I have a differing opinion and you play the martyr card, how very typical. I grow tired of your backwards assumption that I, making no claims about God whatsoever, somehow must disprove the existence of such a being. You expect me to prove a negative? This is very telling in how you approach rational thought and proof. I've said one must present evidence for a claim and you say you've seen the same evidence I have and draw different conclusions. This is akin to saying I dopped a pencil and instead of gravity acting upon it, it was lifted by a legion of angels. I know you aren't a fool, but that statement is foolish.

I do assert that it is intellectually lazy to ascribe the unkown to a deity. Its merely a cop-out. There would be no point in trying to accomplish ANY sort of scientific progress if there is some sort of supernatural force behind the scenes mucking about. I'd be absolutely terrified of getting on an airplane because some cosmic trickster decided to change the laws of physics on a whim. Why bother to learn about rain, or space, or the natural world? Its much easier to say "God did it!" than apply critical thinking.

If overwhelming evidence would be produced that shows evidence of a deity, I would be swayed. I am always open to the evidence. The same with elves, unicorns, fairies, and Russell's teapot.

As for other cosmological models, yes, they exist, and yes, some of them do have some merit for further study. As for now, the "Big Bang" is the best one that fits the observations. I've never claimed it was the only one. Yes, "best" is a bit subjective, I admit. Again, that's the beauty of science. No one claims to be absolutely right on every matter. We leave that up to the religious demagogues.

Edit to lamz:
Finally, someone reasonable. I hate to burst your bubble about that particular hands-off creator model, though. Its called deism and was very influential in the thinkers behind the American Revolution. I thought about bringing Occam's Razor into this, but figured I'd sound even more pretentious than I'm sure I already am.

Edit to koager: You are correct. Humans did not descend from monkeys. We share a very, very distant ancestor as with other primates. We're actually apes, as lamz said.