I'm beginning to question your reading comprehension. Let me try again.

Some scientists (like Sagan) used to claim that there is certainly ET. Some people (scientist, non-scientist, whatever - atheists who might be smart or stupid) said this would tend to prove there is no God. On SMP there were several threads in which people claimed that if ET then probably no God - they were scientist, non-scientists, whatever, but mostly atheists.

Now, some scientists (like those who wrote Rare Earth) claim there almost certainly no ET. Some people (scientist, non-scientist, whatever - atheists who might be smart or stupid), such as the OP in THIS VERY THREAD, claim or imply that no ET, no God.

So, to summarize:

Scientist says - ET Some people say - therefore no God.
Scientist says - no ET Some people say - therefore no God.

Ok, can't make it more plain than that.

Every view that has ever been had has been held by somebody who happened to be a scientist.

The point is that this thread is pointless.

Ironic that you questioned my reading abilities, did you even read the OP? He asked what the reason would be for god to create billions of planets without life. This question has the same validity if ETs are rare or common.

You still don't get it. The point isn't what scientists believe. The point is that atheists use contradictory claims to argue against the existence of God. Whatever happens about ET atheists will then claim they were right and God's non-existence is confirmed.

If hell exists, I'm sure it contains some number of atheist who continue to believe God does not exist even while they burn.

Max Raker should just admit that the question about the existence of ET isn't relevant to the question about the existence of God.

Yes, 2 people can both be atheists and disagree on something. Deep stuff.

I don't really need to "admit" this. It is what I actually think and what the consensus among scientists is. I also admit that I have no idea on what the chances of ET existing are. So the question is doubly moot.

So just tell NotReady that any atheist who makes an argument about the existence(or non existence) of God based on the existence(or non existence) of ETs is an idiot(of course that would mean saying you think Sagan was an idiot). Then we can move on.

I'm not going to speak for Sagan, but I think he was talking about the chances of a christian like god existing with humans being uniquely special. I think ETs have to exist for scientology for example.