Intelligence is not a freak occurance, but a recurring theme in evolution, appearing in dolphins, parrots, crows, and primates.

Could any of these species be capable of discovering God?

Remember, we discovered God only through Christ, whom God had sent to Earth for our benefit.

I certainly hope not. Christianity is false and therefore wrong. Think of all the evil done in the name of the cross.

So, Jesus Christ was the evil spawn of the Devil and was not bore upon this Earth as the legitimate messenger of God?

Why do you believe Christianity and it's theological teachings is wrong?

...and it is a battle, after all, for the hearts and minds of mortal men, for there can be only one God.

The evil that has been done was done as a cleansing neccesity throughout the evolution of mankind.

....purging the Earth of false beliefs.

Off topic, Rick do you have any TA advice for me for the upcoming 2005/2006 academic year?

God

Hermes called him eternal.

Thales called him the most ancient.

Plato called him the innate source of the universe and the repository of all understanding.

Others - the infinite cause, both outside all things and yet in all things and everywhere.

Others - the Being of Beings, the Prime Cause insofar as other causes are derived from it, the maker and originator of all.

Others - the Prince of worldly things, the ruler, the arranger, the first mover and the first moving, the immovable beginning: because all things are moved by him, though he remains immovable, and not subject to suffering, since he is always stable, fixed and permanent.

Trithemius calls the source of all worlds.

Democritus concluded that God contains every name, since all is in him and he himself is in everything, not unlike the manner in which all straight lines drawn from the centre to the circumference are said to be in the centre.

Jesus Christ, the son of God, conveyed the true knowledge of the divine mind.

Ricks quote "Propagating false beliefs is wrong. Questioning beliefs is right."

I suspect that as long as a person believes something to be the truth, even though that belief is unproveable as a truth, that person will propagate it, even though it may not be in the best interest of those who hear it.
I agree that questioning beliefs is appropriate, but suspect that it is for each individual to seek out beliefs which best match their own experience of the World bearing in mind the probability of closeness to the Truth of the real world.
This process is going to take millions of years, unless average skills of differentiating between truth and falsity increase exponentially over coming years.
In the absence of Established Truth, unskilled people have to believe (willynilly) what others dictate, or what they may conjure up for themselves, to suit their own familial, religiose, peer or group thoughts (or to make money)!
This is life and always has been so. That which is incomprehensible has to be associated with something else (God) to leave ones mind free to get on with all the other daily problems, even if this means an even greater burden on a persons time.
In short, most people need God and I believe they should be free to have Him as long as they don't put me down for my beliefs.
After all, one cannot force people not to believe in Him and one cannot prove that He doesn't exist.
Obviously, if He doesn't exist, all believers have wasted a lot of their time.
And if He does exist, I am for the frier!
Also, I suspect that many who do fear the Lord, and have curbed selfish activities to the benefit of Society, have indeed made life more bearable for those with whom they have been in contact.
I happen to try to abide by the principles of Christianity except for the belief in God as portrayed to us by the Bible. This is my personal choice.

Are not some truths self-propagating, without the need of human intervention and human propagation?

Do you believe that man was created in the image of God?

Genesis I: God made man in his own image.

Faith is hardwired into our genes?

Man is by nature inquisitive.
Knowledge of the truth is an ideal for which many strive.
In its absence 'we don't know'.
This can be a mentally, emotionally and spiritually painful state which may be alleviated by accepting a faith or belief.
Such acceptance can lead after time to the feeling of 'knowing the truth'.

Far harder, is coping with the unknown and seeking explanations to unknowns until the truthful answers are known or it becomes recognised that the truth is not ascertainable.

"There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know."

....Donald Rumsfeld, from a February 12, 2002 news briefing.

Surely there were traditions before Jesus that had discovered the truth of the ultimate reality. Jesus was not the son of God. This is something I think Christianity takes out of context. We are all the "sons" or manifestations of God, the Source. Our mind, our consciousness, is the mind of God. Jesus was an adept individual who had a great message in a time when humanity probably needed it, but there was nothing about him more "divine" than any other human.

.....meanwhile babies die in Africa......

And in New Orleans and Biloxi.