Ok I'm just gonna throw some more gasoline on the fire here. I put myself down as a middle of the roader. I occasionally attend church (united) and I have read the bible (but not "religiously"). As an aside I read other religious literature out of interest (more similarities than there are differences between various religions!). Anyway, I most definately believe in the omnipotent. I'm also a research scientist. . . . but. . . . wait. . . huh? If anything the further I have progressed in my learning the more I am convinced of some kind of divine intervention.
One area of interest that many people are not aware of is what is known as the origins of chirality. Ok, time for a quick chemistry lesson. Chirality essentially arises when an object's mirror image (reflect through a mirror plane) is nonsuperimposable. One really simple example of this is your right and left hands. They are essentially mirror images of one another and no matter how you try you cannot turn your left hand into your right without reflecting through a mirror. Make sense? Alright now some of you may be aware that on earth every organism is made of up specific mirror images of building blocks. For example all organisms only contain L-amino acids (as opposed to the mirror image D-amino acids) and D-carbohydrates (as opposed to the mirror L-carbohydrates) as building blocks. So far the unatural enantiomers of these essentially building blocks have not been found to naturally occur in the universe (not saying they won't). Why is this the case?
Mirror images of compounds have the EXACT same chemical and physical properties. The only difference these mirror images have is when they are placed into a "chiral" environment. . . such as a protein. . . made entirely of L-amino acids. Another good example of this is the anti-nauseant drug Thalidomide. For this drug one mirror image successfully treats nausea (morning sickness originally) while the other causes horrible birth defects. Clearly there is a lock and key mechanism involved for all biological systems (think right hand in left glove. . . might go in but doesn't fit properly).
Alright, this is all really round about but I guess what I'm trying to say is that I believe the origin of chirality (at least originally) arose due to divine intervention. Perhaps something of a divine clockmaker who made the parts, put them together, set them in motion and then maintains that movement. There are many different theories on the origins of chirality but they all need a trigger that have yet to be explained (I highly doubt it will ever be explained). The theories go right down the first organic compounds being formed by "chiral" or circularly polarized light. . . but what made that light one mirror image over the other? This is obviously the crux and here's where the faith factor comes into play.
Anyway, this is all just something to mull over. It is a chicken and egg type of situation but I believe the origins of chirality have a place in this argument. Obviously atheists, agnostics and the like can all find ways to use this phenomenon to argue their beliefs. The only difference is the faith.
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