In article <xWRUf.12562$Mx1.5318@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net>, 
manic_mandy@hotmail.com says...

In news:dvvmpd$7en$2@lust.ihug.co.nz,
Your Name Here=Harvey <you@somehost.somedomain.aus> typed:

One thing that does hold this world back from evolving,
is the idea(s) about God.
God is blown out of the water, by considering intelligent design;
ie. God is not of itself intelligent (ie. the God of the Jews,
Christians, Muslims, etc).
It is interesting to note, that anything put forward by aliens,
does not include God (God or gods of the Earth).
{This is not really surprising, when in effect - ETs were the basis
 upon which God or gods were based upon...}

Well IMO the conception of "God" most Judo-Christian or desert religions
have, have had throughout history and is portrayed in scriptures such as the
Bible or the Koran is far too limited. This God is far too small to account
for the entire Universe. In fact the God of religion seems to be a kind of
Idolatrous God created in the Image of men.

However this is because the primary purpose of organised religion is social
control, which they do by setting up the idea of a vengeful God who endorses
that particular religion and no other and the only way to do that is to set
up an idolatrous limited conception God and set out very limited ways in
which people may access this God who always hides behind a curtain. Well
it's all smoke and mirrors really.

I view religion as being 'political' - that it is all about power and
control - of the people - believers and unbelievers alike.
It is not what they say that matters, but the observable effects they have,
that do matter.
I can't say I've been to the inner sanctums of religion, to know what they
are really thinking and planning behind their fascades - but to actually
believe what they are teaching, is madness in itself, and it is even
madder if within their secret society they are aware of what they are
doing - ie. feeding their religion to the masses, so as to have their
own comfortable life.
We all know how well established the Vatican is, and just look at the so
called recent new religions that have sprung up, and how well their
'establishment' is, look at the churches of the Mormons, and what other
religions do with their monies - the Moonies, Scientology, Jehovah's 
Witnesses, whatever... ...

I will only take their ideas and literature seriously - when it is
worthy of serious thought and consideration. ie. if they have anything
sensible to offer?
If it sounds like propanganda from the very start, with it's own dogma
and rhetoric - without any actual real information - then - it doesn't
get any better the more you know about them.

But just because religions do that, doesn't mean there is no Universe and
there is no intelligence in it. Clearly there is a Universe and we know
there is intelligent life in the Universe because we are part of the
Universe and we consider ourselves intelligent. If everything is a part of
the Universe including intelligence then it's clear God and the universe are
one and the same thing.

I don't really prescribe to the term 'God' and the universe being the
same thing - not really. Although I do concede that when talking about
God as a non-entity, like you are - really - it is better than the God of
the Jews, Christians and Muslims.
But really it is talking about a different God altogether - one that is
undefined, and harder to comprehend. That is fine, but we really have to
change the name 'God' then to something else, so that it does not get
confused with the other God concept, so that the two are understood to
be radically different.

When considering intelligent species - I don't think you can say that
only one type is superior to the others.
(Maybe you could, if you did your research over millions of years...)
And to bring that Star Trek phrase, which explains the unexplainable
--- Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations
you can expect the unexpected - that life will evolve into it's
many forms, some doomed to extinction? Yet others will survive...

Well in a sense there is no such thing as Aliens, because all living and
existing beings belong to everything that exists, something either exists or
it doesn't so there is only *one* universe so there is nothing that can be
alien to this. So if one sees the Universe and God as one and the same thing
all creatures are part of God.

There may be only one universe - but we need still to understand what
you mean by one universe.
We already live in two. Broadly, that things living, are inhabited by
living spirits and when these die, the spirit is released - to go from
where it came from - that other world, the spirit world.
Billy Meier refers these to the coarse matter world and the fine matter
world - I have not access to the material available, which clears up how
are these different to the new age concepts of material and spirit worlds.
There are correlations, but there would be differences as well.
This is of course, speaking of two dimensions - and there can be many
other dimensions as well.
Would you call these universes? Or still part of the same universe?
They are not physical, compared to ours...

Clearly there are different levels of intelligence in the Universe even our
own planet shows that. Since we are all God (or part of God) one's will is
the whole of the Law. But there is Good and Evil because there is
Destruction and Creation, there is black and white, there is love and hate,
there is inflicting pain and killing, and there is giving Love. One doesn't
need organised religion to define good and evil and right from wrong. These
things are a reality in the Universe and our actions are an individual
responsibility, not the responsibility of the Church or State.

I don't presume to know all about the different types of hardware
(or life forms)
in this reality - nor know what other realities are like?
Nor do I expect anyone else to know - better.

Well there is only one reality something either exists or it doesn't. Of
course that doesn't mean people may see things in different ways and
experience a "different" reality from others, But ultimately everything that
can possibly exist belongs to one universe. Well that's what the term
"Universe means" the idea of more than one Universe is an Oxymoron or
contradiction in terms. :)
-- 
Amanda

I don't think you can clearly define as something being in a 'box'
and there is nothing outside.
That one must always be prepared to expand that box or see outside it,
when it is shown that the box does in fact, does not exist.
Only that your mind created it, and it was a temporary box anyway.

The more you know, the more you realise you have yet to learn....

Definitions need to be checked, so that we know we are talking about
the same thing?

Harvey