By Dominic

There is an ongoing debate about the origins of life between ‘science’ and ‘faith’. It is complex and varied but there is some common ground. From the point of view of science, life was created by having plausible prebiotic conditions that in particular combinations resulted in the creation of the small molecules of life. Evolution worked on molecules and cells until we are where we are today, and it has not stopped. We can still evolve for thousands of years to come.

I think that it was inevitable that the right conditions such as volcanoes, interplanetary collisions and meteors would occur in some way to result in collections of cells and life as we know it, however small the probability of it happening was.

On the other hand, world faiths believe in a god or gods that are responsible for creating material, planets and life, rather than science being responsible. Some say science has nothing to do with the creation of life. Many people find it easy to put everything down to a ‘God’ because they cannot be bothered to find out or they just don’t want to know.

There will never be agreement, and there will be argument. I think that life had to be formed at some point, so it wasn’t impossible. If it can happen on earth, surely a form of life adapted to any particular environment is possible. Perhaps a God could create life forms on other planets as may have happened here. Who knows?