Raëlians And Carbon:
Is There A Connection?
Johan Grahn
From: "Grahn, Johan"
To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Subject: Raelians and Carbon - Is there a connection?
Date: Thursday, December 21, 2000 7:13 AM
Hi Cliff!
I just read your letter to Jeff considering Zecharia Sitchin and figured I'd add my two cents' worth. You are of course correct in your statement that we don't know whether life has a single source or not but I'd like to add that if that is the case, there are very good reasons for it.
Some atoms are more likely to combine into long chains of molecules than others, thus those atoms are likelier candidates for creating life. Carbon has four "empty slots" in it's outer electron shell and can therefore form up to four bonds with various other atoms as in the case of Methane (CH4) or ethane (C2H6). This can go on indefinitely and therefore carbon is an excellent candidate for life "creation".
<TheBurningDarkness> also claims that we consist mostly of rare chemicals which is, as you correctly pointed out, complete rubbish. The four main "chemicals of life" are Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen and Oxygen, all of which exist in great quantities on earth. Oxygen is in fact the most common substance on the planet. Even if the chemicals that made up life were rare, I can't see what that would prove.
As for your comment that the Raelians are allies, I am not so sure about that. While I wouldn't call them our enemies, they do teach a flawed (as far as we can tell) science that incorporates dead concepts such as the steady state theory and the "creation" rather than evolution of life. What if they suddenly started to demand "equal time?" Should we give it to them? Also, in Chicago, there are "preaching" raelians in the street corners, indistinguisable from their fundamentalist counterparts on the other side of the street.
From: "Positive Atheism Magazine" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
To: "Grahn, Johan"
Subject: Re: Raelians and Carbon - Is there a connection?
Date: Thursday, December 21, 2000 11:05 AM
The Raëlians are our allies in that they work for social issues that are far more important than the discussion of origins and because they are, technically, atheists. I will stump for the Raëlians and such people as Satanists (atheists with a dark æsthetic) -- if for no other reason than to challenge the more traditional atheists to keep a check on our own bigotry. As in the case with the World Church of the Creator (atheistic white supremacists), I will call them on issues of grave importance (racism, particularly deadly expressions of it -- which the Church itself claims to denounce) and will take on the Raëlians when need be (as I did in this letter), but we need to be able to recognize potential allies not only in Raëlians (which ought to be relatively easy) but also in the theists with whom we can work together toward ending some of the particularly deadly social problems we face.
Cliff Walker
"Positive Atheism" Magazine
Five years of service to
people with no reason to believe
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