Okay so I've read this thread, and I read pretty much all other threads where everyone debates pretty vigourosly about ID vs. evolution / God vs. fsm. I read these threads and wikipedia and whatever else happens to come up to try to get a better understanding of all this crazyness. I just recently saw that What the Bleep Do We Know movie which didn't impress me too much (I even saw it 1.5 times).

I was raised a muslim in a very modern and increasingly anti-religion environment. When I was taking biology courses in high school and college a few years ago the whole debate part of evolution vs. religion didn't even really occur to me. I guess I just saw evolution as another scientific principal that helped explain a whole bunch of crap...pretty convincingly.

I guess I believe in evolution. It really does make sense when you look at the facts and the evidence and whanot. As I understand it, the current theory of our existence is something along the lines of: Big Bang >> Lotsa Time >> Earth with bacteria and random minute forms of life >> evolution >> here we are. However, having understood and in large part accepted all of this, I'm still not willing to let go of my faith in God.

1) Because I accept that believing in God takes FAITH. I mean, they call it a faith for a reason right?

2) And this is the point of my post, I don't understand why the two can't co-exist. Why can't evolution be a part of God's plan? And the larger question I have is regarding the actual creation of the universe.

Mainly, what was there before the big bang? What was there before the extremely dense and hot state?. When did things start heating up and how, why? How did that state get there? Why is it that time suddently started there and isn't saying that time started at the beginning of the universe a pretty convenient way to not have to explain everthing before the singularity or whateva? Did gases and electrons and protons and neutrinos and random things I know very little about appear out of thin air? Was there nothing at some point? Emptiness? How far back does physics/science take us?

When I think about this stuff, I get to a point where my brain can't process the concept any more and I'm just sort of blank -- usually when I get to the emptiness concept. I can't think of any other subject that leads to this feeling. Creepy.