Bwld and Uber: religious atheists

All I was saying was any higher intelligence other than ours would necessarily have to be in the form of an alien race from outer space, IF there is no God. I happen to believe God is the highest intelligence that exists, but I haven't forgotten what I believed when I was an atheist. So let's be logical about this... if there is no God, no spiritual reality, only a material universe, and assuming we are the highest intelligence found on THIS panet, but not the highest intelligence in the universe, then in what other form could that higher intelligence possibly exist?

And please don't try telling me you believe in the possibility of a higher plane of existence, because that just opens the door to the possibility of there being a God. Mixing and matching conflicting philosophies doesn't make for any kind of convincing argument.

As for religious atheists, sure, I can believe that. You don't have to believe in a God to be religious. But I don't see how being a religious atheist changes the fact that athiests don't believe in a God or gods... the word "religious" does not cancel out the word "atheist".