NOTE:For the record, the movie has almost nothing to do with the book.
I believe the Guide is at its root a work of philosphy. It is sarcastic, absurd, irreverent, random, and contradictory, but also philosophical.
The Guide is liberally sprinkled with references to God, to the point of making me certain that Adams was not an atheist (perhaps agnostic?) I will take what I believe are the most significant references plus an overall look at the book and try to deduce its message.
First, the babelfish. I believe the babelfish is Adams' take on the "irreducible complexity" argument, a creature that is so specialized and complex that it could not have possibly evolved. The irony in the book is that this fact is not only used by the religious but also by the evolutionists to prove that God does not exist. (I believe Adams is poking fun of the evolutionists here.)
This item seems to indicate that the Universe is too complex to have come about by itself, ex nihilo.
On the other hand you have an episode toward the end of the book, where a few of the main characters arrive on a distant planet to view the highly publicized "God's last message to the Universe," written on the side of a mountain visible from a scenic overlook.
The characters peer through a set of pay-per-minute binoculars at the distant words but are only able to see:
"SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE"
This episode, combined with the sheer amount of randomness in the rest of the book, ending in the same way it began through a literally impossible set of circumstances, make me think that Adams views the Universe as a complex vessel with no-one's hand on the tiller.
Discuss.
