Viewpoint Against Christianity

“I can understand how two thousand years ago, when Jesus may have walked the earth, survival was the prime concern for most people.  So, they often sought comfort in a ‘God’ to help them navigate their harsh living conditions. Belief in ‘God’ also helped provide explanations for scientific realities that exceeded their primitive comprehension. However, over the last two centuries, remarkable scientific developments have dramatically advanced our understanding of the universe and life here on earth. When those advancements are considered along with breakthrough technology of the early 21st century, the need for ‘God’ or ‘gods’ has been virtually eliminated, particularly for those within the educated population. As prominent neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris (Ph.D.) argues, society has gained the capacity to manage the planet without relying on religion. Michael Shermer (Ph.D., history of science) says something similar: ‘In the past 10,000 years, humans have devised roughly 100,000 religions based on roughly 2,500 gods. So, the only difference between myself and the believers is that I am skeptical of 2,500 gods whereas they are skeptical of 2,499 gods. We're only one God away from total agreement.’ As far as I am concerned, science and man’s progress over the last several centuries have eliminated the “need” for a supernatural creator and power. So, for me, the days of gods, goddesses, and fairies are in the past, and it’s time to focus on moving forward without such mythical beings.”

Background Discussion

While Shermer, Harris and other prominent voices in the scientific community view belief in God as antiquated, many recent polls show that about 90% of Americans still believe in God or a higher power.  In addition, a Pew Research Center survey reports that 51 percent of American scientists believe in God. Also, although belief in God or gods is common to many religions, Christianity shares with Judaism a remarkably similar belief in a single Creator God, one which is primarily grounded in the books of the Old Testament Bible. Further, Islam and Christianity also share a somewhat similar belief in a single and universal God. Discourse about the existence of God has resonated since the dawn of humanity. Despite advancements in science and technology, which have seemingly eliminated man’s need for God, there remains ever-growing evidence that points to the existence of a Creator, evidence that directly opposes the theory that our universe came into existence by a random chance. The following list provides a brief summary of science-based evidence that support the existence of God. 

Summary

Reasons Why God Exists

• Science’s Big Bang theory implies a Creator (see latest Webb telescope photo of the Universe).
• Fine-tuning of the universe’s equations serves as a counterpoint to its random-chance origin.
• Intelligent design is implied in the physical placement of the earth.
• DNA & cell complexity in human beings suggests a Designer.
• Humans, as rational beings, are unique within the kingdom of life; how can this have taken place?
• Many scientists, including Nobel-Prize winners, believe in God.

The birth pangs of philosophy and science emerged when figures such as Socrates, Plato, and religious scholars proposed explanations for our earthly existence and the mechanics of nature. Many postulated that a God or gods created and oversaw our universe. By the 12th century theology, —the study of God and his relationship with the created world and universe—was deemed “the queen of all the sciences” at most academic institutions. At that time, both science and theology were inextricably linked by the quest for a coherent truth that answered man’s deepest questions.

However, beginning in the 17th century, a rift began between science and religion. Even though Catholic scientists had developed the scientific method, and Nicholas Copernicus had espoused a sun-centered planetary system (heliocentrism) a century before the Galileo controversy, Galileo’s brash promotion of the same in the 1600s marked an initial break in the longstanding harmony between science and religion.  The rationalist philosophy of the Enlightenment period beginning in the 1700s helped to widen this divide over time. Today, critics now view science as taking advantage of the latest advances in technology, while portraying religion as discredited because of its superstitious reliance on faith, the Bible, and the Church. As Dr. Carl Sagan, a popular scientist of the latter 20th century, summarized, "The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be." In other words, science based on empirical data alone leaves no room for God. In 1966, the cover of Time Magazine boldly inquired, “Is God Dead?” Time seemed late to the party as, about 100 years earlier, atheist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had addressed that question: “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.” Have science, including the latest scientific discoveries, killed God? Given this history, what is the status of the relationship between science, God, and religion in our evolving 21st-century society?

Currently, those who don’t acknowledge the existence of a Creator God are generally classified into three categories: 1.) atheists, 2.) agnostics, and 3.) a new segment sometimes called “nothing in particulars” 

Most atheists have made a personal decision to reject the existence of God.  Agnostics, on the other hand, are satisfied in saying that God’s existence is unverifiable, so why invest time or resources debating the topic? Meanwhile, “nothing in particulars” neither reject God’s existence nor deem his existence as unknowable. Instead, they simply don’t view the “God discussion” as a concern worth personally pursuing, or at least not through currently available religious platforms, whether online, books or in-person discussions.

However, within the last 100 years, an increasing number of prestigious scientists have argued that science and religion can be reconciled on a basic level. Indeed, recent scientific research has further affirmed what Fr. Georges LeMaitre, S.J., a Belgian astronomer, first proposed in 1931:  a singular beginning of our universe commonly known as the Big Bang.  This research directly contradicts the long-held scientific view, advanced even by the renowned Albert Einstein, that the universe has always existed. In contrast, the Big Bang theory aligns with the creation narrative of the Biblical book of Genesis, which was written more than 3,000 years ago. In addressing the origin of the universe, astronomer Robert Jastrow (Ph.D.) highlighted this failure of “science” and the truth of the Old Testament: “For the scientist who has lived by faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.” Western society rarely acknowledges this apparent confirmation of the creation story as documented in the Bible.  

Contemporary 21st-century science now provides robust evidence that our life-supporting universe most likely originated from a single point in time and space, i.e., as attested to by the Big Bang. This theory and others also suggest the universe’s physics and biology are intricately “fine-tuned”—and thus seemingly ordered by a god-like intelligence.

Scientists have also shown that the likelihood the universe began through random chance is infinitesimally small. Dr. Francis S. Collins (M.D. Ph.D.), a noted DNA geneticist and former director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), would agree: “The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. He can be worshipped in the cathedral or in the laboratory. His creation is majestic, awesome, intricate, and beautiful.”

Some scientists have proposed an alternative to the Big Bang: “multiverse theory,” which theorizes an infinite number of parallel universes, which would explain why at least one has “accidentally” produced our universe with its intelligent life. Still, some scientists have argued that the probability of God’s existence is definitely higher than the probability of a human-supporting multiverse. Thus, science can provide no reasonable explanation for our universe and our earth teaming with life, especially rational creatures like human beings. Could such fine-tuning and remarkable beings point to an intelligent Creator behind it all? 

Summary

While science has undoubtedly achieved remarkable progress over the past two centuries, it has not crushed the logical foundation and other evidence that support that there is, indeed, an all-powerful God who created the universe. In fact, again, many recent scientific discoveries only reaffirm the deeper complexity and intricate nature of the universe, and our unique place within it as humans. It is also worth noting that about 40 Nobel-Prize-winning scientists, who also are professed Christians (see section on “100 Christians”), acknowledge the existence of God and do not see an inherent conflict between science and God. If you’re an atheist or possible skeptic about God’s existence, you might explore this section of “Science vs. God.” 

In this “Science vs. God” analysis of Christian Decisions, you can find additional resources such as links to videos, documents, quotes, and books on why science and belief in God’s existence are compatible. Many Ph.D.’s and Nobel-Prize-winning scientists believe in God; you can too. To emphasize and contrast the thoughts of those who reject God, review the “Dark Side Quotes.” In life and death, we all choose our companions. Whom do you want to spend eternity with, those of the light, or those of the dark side? And here we propose a most sober question and related choice, not a lighthearted reference to the “dark side” of the cinematic franchise of the blockbuster Star Wars movies. We call this choice the Christian Decision.