> An archeologist digs at a site, he
> finds a piece of pottery that has no geological explanation so he posits
> that the pottery results from the action of an intelligent agent, even if
> he has no other information on the culture that might have produced this
> pottery. Similarly(I think) a cosmologist observes that the universe
> exists and finds that he cannot explain how the universe came to be using
> any known natural mechanism. So he posits that the universe results from
> the actions of an intelligent agent, even if he had no other way of
> scientifically investigating the existence of this hypothetical agent.
The archeologist identifies a piece of pottery by the distinguishing
characteristics of known man-made processes, not just by the fact that
the material does not appear to have been created by known natural
mechanisms.
In a similar analogy, a cosmologist would scientifically conclude the
universe to be made by God only if, besides no other natural mechanistic
explanation, (s)he also identified distinguishing characteristics of
divine processes.
Divine processes are outside the purview of scientific explanation, except
for divine cosmologists.
Now, if one were to inquire how to scientifically identify a UFO...
Rick Strickert
Austin, TX
laystrickrg@crf.cuis.edu