Creation and the Big Bang CS2.P

• Religion’s inwardly directed sentimental glow reflects on issues privately, exchanges information by assurance and assertion, discusses awkward points by warfare, terror, and coercion, and builds up a network of conflicting ideas that conceal ignorance under a cloak of high-flown yet empty prose. – Peter Atkins

Learning Objectives• Describe the theory of the Big Bang.• Explain how modern science can challenge God’s role as

creator.• Evaluate the extent to which the Big Bang challenges

God’s existence.

Key Terms• Big Bang Theory – The theory assuming that the

universe formed 14 billion years ago following an explosion of time and matter.

• Cosmology – The study of the universe.• God of the Gaps – The belief that God was a simple

answer to fill in the gaps in human knowledge in pre-scientific society.

Creation – two main perspectives• Steady state – this is

the theory that the universe is an infinite constant which has always been her in some form or other.

• Examples of this can be seen in Andre Linde’s Inflation theory or in Stephen Hawking’s Quantum Vacuum theory.

• Fixed-point creation – this is the theory that at some fixed point in space-time, the universe came into being, either spontaneously or intentionally.

• The predominant theory is the Big Bang theory argues that the universe came into being around 14 billion years ago.

Hubble’s Telescope• Edwin Hubble’s telescope

was constructed in the early 20th Century and has been taking photos of galaxies across space.

• The evidence shows that the further away stars are, the faster they are moving.

The Big Bang Theory• Fr George Lemaitre

was a Catholic priest and physicist. He took Hubble’s research and postulated that the universe was expanding from a fixed point in space-time.

Lemaitre insisted that this had nothing to do with his religious beliefs, but was purely a scientific postulation.

The Big Bang Theory Sir Fred Hoyle, a

renowned scientist, dismissed Lemaitre’s idea outright.

On the radio Hoyle accused Lemaitre of assuming that there had been some sort of “big bang” that took place to just create the universe.

Hoyle preferred a steady state model which was less like the Bible!

An infinite universe• Many modern physicists

accept that Big Bang theory cannot adequately explain the universe because as you come to the point of singularity all the laws of physics cease to work.

• A basic principle of science is that energy cannot be created or destroyed, so where did the energy first originate?

An infinite universe• Stephen Hawking’s

current theory is the idea that branes exist in an eternal quantum vacuum.

• When they touch universes are created.

• The problem is, the branes themselves cannot be explained, nor can the existence of the laws that allow them to operate.

An infinite universe Andre Linde’s theory is

that the universe is constantly inflating and growing.

This leads to problems if you look for an explanation of the cause of the universe at all.

Thomas Aquinas said of infinite regression, if there is no first cause, there can be no subsequent causes.

The need for God• Before the enlightenment

period, there were many unanswered questions about the universe.

• People who could not find answers would often account for their lack of knowledge by appealing to God.

• This has led to the idea of God of the Gaps, a deity who fills the gaps of knowledge.

The need for God• As scientists learn more,

those gaps fill in removing God more and more to a point where sceptics think we do not need God anymore.

• Atheists like Richard Dawkins, Peter Atkins and even Stephen Hawking are convinced that eventually we will do away with the need for God as all questions will be answered.

The need for God Of course this is an

oversimplification. Arguments that claim the

necessity of God do not require God to explain one particular thing but rather being itself.

God is far beyond the reach of scientific discovery at an epistemic distance from us.

God as a meme• Richard Dawkins argues

that the idea of God is a meme.

• Like a gene, a meme helps human beings to survive. Unlike a gene, a meme is an idea.

• Dawkins says that the idea of God helped societies to develop is now no longer needed so like other unnecessary body parts it should drop out of the gene pool.

To sum upExplanation for the Universe• Either the universe is necessary or contingent.• If contingent we need a satisfactory explanation.• A satisfactory explanation must be absolute,

consistent with scientific laws and reasonable.Explanation for God• Some anthropologists claim that God is a part of our

social development; made in our image.• Some psychologists claim that God is part of our

neurosis; God is the abstract father figure.• Some scientists claim that God was an explanation

for the unexplainable; god of the gaps.