The creed prompting much Astrobiological research is called the Copernican principle. Named after Nicolaus Copernicus, this tenet states that the Earth is not in a central, preferred position in the cosmos. Although there are arguments that support the idea that our location is special, most astronomers infer much more than our placement within the universe. Naturalists, who exclude God entirely, extrapolate the “principle of mediocrity,” the idea that the Earth is a mediocre planet among many and, by combining the assumptions of Darwinism and origins of life research, humanity is merely an evolved primate of no special significance, so that things once thought sacred are really only trifling coincidences of deterministic, natural law.