So it begins...

This evening my daughter asked me if I knew that "God made everything". Apparently a middle-aged man (presumably a pastor or priest) came to her (private) school today and talked to them about how God made everything. "Apples? Did mankind make apples? No," she quoted to me, "Spoons? Did mankind make spoons? No." Well, actually, yes mankind did make spoons. But I guess this is where our intellectual relationship gets interesting. There's no way I'm going to let her believe that I believe in God. But how do you counter this kind of claim in a discussion with a five-year-old? I figured the Big Bang and evolution should wait and focused on the spoon. First, I tried to show that people make things, using a wonderful picture she drew in art class today as an example of something "God didn't make". She countered that God made the paper and pens she used to draw the picture. (Smart kid.) So I showed her a video of how paper is made. I'm not sure this was convincing since she got distracted by the mere opportunity to watch videos, but it drew our first ontological dispute to a temporary resolution.

I guess we should make some of our own paper.