The fact that we ourselves are sentient does not endow the rest of the universe with sentience, whether one argues rationally or empirically. And sentience or consciousness is the fundamental difference between the theist and the atheist view of the universe.-This argument is a fallacy. Paul Davies makes a great point of noting that our sentience is highly significant. Our sentience is a product of this universe and therefore the universe has become sentient in US and suggests a universal sentience may underlie it.