Can Life arise from non-Life?

concerning this new post by taylor, the subject of how life arose from nothing can be expanded to include the incredible accomplishments of Craig Venter
and his human genome project. his venture created the first synthetic species. labs produced a living bacterial organism from scratch, without the infusion
of any biological material from another organism. from the DNA strings to the cell structures were all created in a lab and then brought to life. its hard to
quantify these types of achievements. major corporations are believers and continue to pour 100s of millions of dollars into his work. it will be interesting
to see how the evangelical community reacts over time. embryonic stem cells and cloning have nothing on what this technology will produce. a senate sub-
committee has already raked him over the coals with questions about morality and if he believes in God (which he does not). man can now "play God",
so where does that leave God?
i think a more interesting dilema for society and science is what alvin toffler wrote about in his book Future Shock. the lengthening disconnect between
technology rich cultures and those societies still based on thousand year old dogma. mr toffler predicted a global clash. in many ways science can be
construde as a religion unto itself. its underlining principles and beliefs looking much like islam or judism at the society level. our lives will be drastically changed
by these new scientific discoveries, but what about the people in Congo, Peru, San Salvador or Iran? how long and how far can our societies grow apart before
there is a correction?