On Thursday, October 11, 2018 at 12:01:41 PM UTC-6, Gary Harnagel wrote:

I haven't said it's certain. I believe I used the term "virtually certain"
once or twice, which isn't the same thing. And if you agree that it could
have happened before then we are in agreement. That's enough to place a
stumbling block in front of the dedicated atheist.

As I've noted, even though Arthur C. Clarke took a view that might harmonize
with yours:

"They will not be like gods, because no gods imagined by our minds have ever
possessed the powers they will command." - Arthur C. Clarke, _Profiles of the
Future_, in the chapter "The Long Twilight" -

I'm dubious because advanced aliens, godlike though they may be in many ways,
miss the theological definiton of "God" in several ways.

They came into existence naturally, the same way we did. There is no reason to
believe someone else in the sense of an advanced alien was our creator - life
clearly developed on Earth by itself. The God of theology, Who is self-existent,
on the other hand helps to answer the question "why is there anything instead of
just nothing".

They have not come to us and told us what they want of us. *That's* the main
thing that makes acceptance of the notion that advanced aliens might exist...
not at all troubling to an atheist. As long as they're not demanding belief,
worship, and obedience... there's nothing to "get religion" about.

John Savard