Questions from the UK

• How do you account for the fine tuning of the universe from the big bang?

How are you coming to the conclusion that the universe is “finely-tuned?” “Finely-tuned” compared to what? Is there another universe that we don’t know about? How many universes were/are not “finely-tuned?”

• What caused this beginning (whatever has a beginning must have a cause)?

A cause would imply that there exists such a thing as “before” the big bang. This is impossible because “before” and “after” are functions of time.  Time did not exist until the big bang, therefore to assert that the universe “must have a cause” is begging the question.

• If an intelligent designer doesn't exist how did life, with all it's vast complexity, even get going in the first place?

No one knows for sure.  But it is irresponsible and dishonest to fill in the blank with our favorite deity or fairy story and call that an answer. 

• Do you really believe that non-living matter evolved and arranged itself into something living and self aware?

I believe that life came about through natural processes that we don’t have enough information to fully understand.  I believe this because this has been our experience.  A host of things that were once thought to be the work of magic, sorcery, or supernatural entities (floods, earthquakes, plagues, eclipses, comets, mental illnesses) turned out to have natural, scientifically valid explanations.  I see no reason to believe that the origin of life is any different…especially when religion has been so wrong about so many other things

• If we live in a purely material world then how do we account for the many supernatural experiences that people have, such as encounters with God, ghosts, spirits, etc (obviously, exactly what all of these encounters actually are are all interpreted by different people in different ways

Let me just stop you right there and say that you have almost answered your own question when you say “exactly what all of these encounters actually are are all interpreted by different people in different ways.”  Therein lies the problem with the reliability of such “encounters.”

• but the fact remains that people encounter things that do not fit a purely naturalistic world view).

No, people claim to encounter things that do not seem to fit a purely naturalistic worldview.  The only evidence we have of these claims are the claims themselves. 

• Are we really to conclude that all of these people are delusional, deceptive, or mad? Or could it be that people are having real encounters with real supernatural beings not explainable through purely scientific mediums?

If none of the people who have claimed to have had these experiences were deceptive, delusional or mad, and if there were an objective way to independently test these claims, you might have a case.  But the fact is this: All of these claims are anecdotal.  You have no way of testing these claims.  Furthermore, when considering even the sincerest of claims of honest people, neither you nor they are aware of the environmental or biochemical factors that may be coming into play, causing them to see or experience what they think they are seeing or experiencing. 

• Where does all of the incredibly complex information come from that is stored within DNA? 

An excellent question. And I say again, no one knows for sure.  But it is irresponsible and dishonest to fill in the blank with our favorite deity or fairy story and call that an answer.  But I have a feeling you're about to....

•  Information doesn’t just appear by itself.  Someone has to put it there.

And you there you went.

• Why does humanity seem to have an innate desire and need to worship something, or someone? Why is there such a universal religious sense within humanity?

The prevalence of religious belief does not represent “an innate desire and need to worship something or someone.”  Religions developed as a way to understand the world that primitive men lived in and as a way to codify (and justify) the prevalent customs, practices and our species’ morality.  This is why some aspects of religion are universal (the “golden rule,” provisions against murder), and some aspects are divergent (polytheism vs. monotheism, matriarchal vs. patriarchal, moody gods vs. ambivalent gods)

And it is in the divergence of these religions that makes them suspect as a source of true knowledge about anything.  Take near-death experiences, for instance.  People raised in Christian cultures claim to see Jesus or Hell.  Buddhists claim to see Buddha, Muslims claim to see Mohammed, while Jews claim to see Abraham.

• Isn’t it a bit extreme to assert "God does not exist"? To make such a statement you would have to have complete knowledge and to have been everywhere in the universe.

And that is exactly why I don’t assert that a god does not exist.  Atheism is not the denial of the existence of a god or gods, it is the disbelief of a theistic positive claim.  The theist claims that a god or gods exist while the atheist is unconvinced.

•  Maybe God dwells somewhere in the universe you don’t know of or have not been to? Is that possible? 

It is equally possible that griffins, Jedi Knights and sugarplum fairies exist somewhere in the universe I don’t know of or have not been to.  But that is not a reason to believe that these things do exist and certainly not a basis upon which to believe that these things care about me personally or that I should live my life according to their alleged “revealed knowledge.”

• What about the evidence of design in all of creation?

 "Appearance" of design is not "evidence" of design.  

• It is obvious that anything that is designed has to have an intelligent creator. 

Not necessarily.  You can have something poorly designed that is the product of an unintelligent creator.

• For example, a computer never came about by mere accident, but had to have been thought out and planned by an intelligent designer. It is the same with creation, and more so, as the natural world is far more complicated than anything humanity can create.

You're exactly right! And if computers occurred naturally, you'd have a checkmate...but.

Computers don't occur naturally.  We can see them conceptualized, designed, and built.  We can go to where they are manufactured and see how the process works.  We can talk to people who build them....and even build them ourselves.  This is what separates nature from the world of machines. We can tell machines are manufactured because we have unmanufactured nature to compare it to.

If you propose a designer, where is it? How does it "manufacture" nature? Once it does, how is it shipped here? Why did it design so many things that went extinct because they couldn't adapt to conditions here on Earth? And if this designer is so intelligent, and capable of so much, it too must be too complex to have just come about without an even greater and more intelligent designer designing it.

• Where does all the matter in the universe come from?

If you are referring to the elements, nuclear fusion.  If you are referring to sub-atomic particles, etc., then as I said previously:  No one knows for sure.  But it is irresponsible and dishonest to fill in the blank with our favorite deity or fairy story and call that an answer.  

•  Why exactly is there something rather than nothing? 

Atoms are comprised mostly of empty space....so everything is comprised mostly of nothing...so the something you speak of is mostly made up of the nothing you claim doesn't exist.

• How do you explain the changed lives of millions of people throughout history who testify to a life changing experience with Jesus Christ?

I would imagine the same way that you would explain the "changed lives of millions of people throughout history who testify to a life changing experience" with Krishna, Buddha, Allah, Sun Myung Moon, Lao Tzu, Wicca, Joseph Smith, L. Ron Hubbard and Star Trek.

• How do we account for the historical Person of Jesus Christ? 

Considering there are no records written of him prior to 20 years after his alleged death (and those were  written by a man who claimed to have had a meeting with his ghost on the road to Damascus), and considering that the first alleged "eyewitness" account of his life doesn't appear until 60 years after his alleged death (ghost-written by someone who supposedly got the info from Jesus' buddy Mark), there really isn't much we can say about "the historical Person of Jesus Christ."...especially when you consider that the other biographies of his life not only came out around the year 100-150, but have all been edited for style and content for the last 1900 years or so

• He has made such an impact upon history that we even measure our calendar by Him.

Yeah, I'm sure that has absolutely *nothing* to do with the fact that Pope Gregory XIII is who set up the calendar we use today in 1562.  And i'm sure that Western Europe and America's domination of much of the world from 1600-1945 has nothing to do with it's widespread use either.  

By that logic, Odin and the gods of Scandinavia are real because we measure our week by them (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are all named after Norse deities). 

• 2000 years on and millions still follow Him.

If the age of a religion determines it's legitimacy, i've got some bad news for you.
Zoroastrianism (140,000-190,000 followers worldwide) has Christianity beat by at least 500 years (and bears a striking resemblance to christian theology).
Taoism (20-400 million followers worldwide) has Christianity beat by at least 400 years.Judaism (14.6 million followers worldwide) has Christianity beat by at least 1000 years. Now I know you guys claim lineage from the Jews, but even if I give you that.....
Hinduism (1 billion followers worldwide) has Christianity beat by about 2000 years.