 Artist’s depiction of the invisible Higgs field which fills the entire universe according to the standard model of particle physics |
Scientists claim to base theories only on science but the fact is they are as faith driven as any fundamental Christian |
There have been many famous creeds offered about science by scientists. And I use creed in the normal sense, which as Google defines it is:
“a system of Christian or other religious belief; a faith.”
So to be precise I’m using it in the sense of the faith of scientists. While they don’t like to admit it, materialists scientists do indeed have faith in a belief that underlies all their theories – the physical world is all there is. This faith is typically encapsulated and expressed in what often becomes a well-known adage. Here’s a couple:
“The COSMOS is all that is or ever was or ever will be.”1
Carl Sagan starts “Cosmos” – both his book and TV Series – with this statement of faith. Here’s another from evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky:
“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”2
In case you didn’t notice, both of these are statements of faith. How can we tell? Easy. These are not testable hypotheses based on specific evidence(s). They are general statements which support a specific worldview (a materialist one) clearly intended to discredit other approaches to science. Another dead give away – when other scientists point out serious problems with the associated theory, instead of re-examining the theory, they get angry with the questioner for daring to question them.
Consider the Cosmos statement. Most materialist scientists are firmly in the big bang camp. Yet such scientists can not say the cosmos always was because according to the big bang, there was a time when the cosmos wasn’t. (For Christian apologists, this leads naturally to the Kalam cosmological argument which I discuss in Enraging the Dragon.) Thus for Sagan, since neither he nor anyone else has any evidence the Cosmos always “was”, (in fact the evidence is to the contrary) that is a statement of faith. As for Dobzhansky, who tries to at once both affirm evolution and discredit creationism, the faith based nature of his statement has become apparent as many biologists, and other scientists have reached the conclusion that evolutionary theory is quite unnecessary for true science to progress.3
Man, being a creature of faith, can’t help but espouse some type of faith, so I don’t begrudge scientists their faith. No, the issue I have is with the various pretenses they don as a masquerade, in efforts to mislead the public. In disguising their faith they also disguise the motivations of the resulting behaviors – such as what to research. What pretenses are donned, you ask? Glad you asked:
1. Pretending they have no faith, relying only on science
Materialist scientist claim to draw conclusions based only on the evidence. If that were true, Darwin himself would have recanted from his theory as I noted in Questioning Darwin – Perpetuating Stereotypes and Misinformation. Obviously he did not follow the evidence; and neither do evolutionary scientists today. That fact points to a faith commitment. Emboldened by such materialist scientists, an increasingly secular world increasingly mock Christians and creationists who actually do follow the evidence – which supports the biblical accounts.
While this is to be expected (Matt 5.11) the hypocrisy of scientists pretending they have no faith is both disingenuous and aggravating enough to move one to righteous anger – as the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and teachers of the law likewise moved Jesus (Matt 23.13-31)
2. Pretending Christian faith in God is different from their faith in science; implicitly believing scientific faith is superior
Faith in the doctrines of science is no different than faith in the doctrines God – though scientists would like you to believe there is no faith involved in the disciplines of science. But when you look at both from a high level, they look amazingly similar. Consider:
Materialists Scientists believe:
1. The world came into existence from nothing, caused by nothing
2. An invisible force fills the entire universe
3. Without this invisible force, life would be impossible
4. There exists invisible dimensions or realms which contain entire unseen worlds
Christians believe:
a. The world came into existence from nothing, caused by an act of God
b. God is an invisible being that fills the entire universe
c. Without this invisible God, life would be impossible
d. There exists invisible dimensions or a realm which contain an entire unseen world, the abode of God known as “heaven.”
On the face of it they look remarkably similar don’t they? But there are significant differences. Lets look at the reasons behind what is believed:
For Materialist Scientists:
1. The world came into existence from nothing, caused by nothing
This comes directly from big bang cosmology. Please note the singularity specified by the big bang is itself an expression of faith since it defies the laws of physics as physicists readily admit4 – and pops uncaused (another impossibility) into existence. But let us set that aside for the moment and simply note this is the current belief of materialist scientists. And though widely recognized as the accepted theory of the origin of the universe, it is a belief that is highly disputed. (If you are not aware that the big bang theory is highly disputed, consider the Open Letter to the Scientific community which lists problems with the big bang, and a large number of scientists who dissent from the theory.)
2. An invisible force fills the entire universe
This is from the standard model of particle physics. Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN recently5 announced that they have found the long sought after Higgs Boson, the “god particle” which means the field that Peter Higgs also predicted that fills the entire universe giving mass to some particles – but not others – (artistic depiction above) must also exist. The existence of this field of course raises the causality question, what caused this field to start? As well as fine tuning questions: why did it start at just the right time? With just the right intensity and properties?
3. Without this invisible force, life would be impossible
The Higgs Boson, scientists tell us, is what gives mass to everything. Without mass, as physicist Sean Carroll tells us, there’s “No molecules, no chemistry, no life.”6 And without the Higgs Boson, there is no field – so scientists are relieved to have found it; it’s a strong confirmation of the standard model of particle physics. How much it it will add support for the big bang remains to be seen. Like the Higgs field above, the existence of such a useful particle raises fine tuning questions – where did such a useful particle come from? How did it get perfectly tuned to work perfectly with the the other particles as it does?
4. There exists invisible dimensions which contain entire unseen worlds
This is the conclusion of a number of different scientific theories – String Theory, M Theory, and The “multiverse”, espoused by numerous scientists such as Leonard Susskind (The Landscape7) and Michio Kaku (Parallel Worlds8).
Let’s move on and look at why do Christians believe what they do. In a word: scripture:
a. The world came into existence from nothing, caused by an act of God
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Gen 1:1
b. God is an invisible being that fills the entire universe
Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD.
Jer 23. 24
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
1 Tim 1.17
c. Without this invisible God, life would be impossible
In the sight of God, who gives life to everything,
1 Tim 6.13a
d. There exists invisible dimensions which contain an entire unseen world, the abode of God known as “heaven.”
This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? 2 Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the LORD. “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.
Isaiah 66.1-2
Christians believe as they do because it is the clear teaching of scripture. Skeptics and doubters would dismiss evidence from the Bible because it’s – well – from the Bible. But does the fact that it’s the testimony of someone they don’t believe in (God) make the testimony of scripture any less rational than the faith of the scientists who believe in theories that contradict science? In fact, one could argue that Christian faith is more rational than the faith of scientists because in addition to being internally consistent (unlike the big bang), Christians also have very strong evidence such as the creation itself, living creatures whose complexity points to a designer, and the resurrection of Christ as hard evidence. Unfortunately just as this article is too brief to go into the means and graphs scientists used to conclude their evidence supports the existence of the Higgs; likewise this article does not allow space to delve into the details of the evidence that supports the biblical account of the creation, complexity of life and resurrection. Simply note that much evidence has been presented along these lines.
Now, as a Christian, I have no issues with or objections to scientific beliefs numbers 2 and 3. There is nothing contradictory to the Christian faith in those two beliefs. Belief 4 is not incompatible per se, but scientists simply have no evidence of it. Belief 1 contradicts the first verse of the Bible which states a core belief of Christianity – that God exists and created every material thing that exists. Additionally as noted it also contradicts known laws of physics and causality, so I reject it outright.
For materialist scientists, they would object to all four beliefs of Christians because they each contradict the core belief of such scientists: that nothing exists outside of the material realm – and that includes God and his abode. Which brings us to the third and most significant pretense that materialist scientists put on:
3. Pretending they have no fear that they may be wrong
Behind the crumbling facade of their over confidence in their faith in the Godless theories of the big bang theory and Darwinian evolution is the growing uneasiness born from the fact that the more evidence they find, the more they keep running into the same two problems: 1. Their godless theories are disproved and shown to be incorrect (like the cosmos “always was”; or 2. As the discovery of the Higgs shows, questions are raised that lead to an inference to the best explanation9 that the universe was created, fine tuned and ordered by God. As noted in my previous article, Eric Metaxas also wrote about such fine tuning in a recent Wall Street Journal article.
These two problems are significant obstacles to the faith of materialist scientists and as a result, to relieve the cognitive dissonance we see reactions popping out of the unbelieving scientific community in much the same way the Higgs Boson popped out of the particles they collided together in the LHC. Their pretenses can’t hide their fear of failure which is one of the driving forces behind the less than stellar attitudes which are regarded as acceptable in the scientific community, and are behind the following self preservation tactics:
– Their fear of failure is a part of the driving force behind The Waning, Great Scientific Hope
– Their fear of failure allows them to turn a blind eye to the censorship of Creationist scientists, and does nothing to abate the mocking of creationists in general – even if only to be politically correct in expressing tolerance for all peaceful beliefs. After all – if you’re so confident you’re right, why silence dissenters? Why not let them speak then demonstrate how wrong they are?
– Perhaps most significant of all is the fear that in addition to being wrong, atheistic scientists don’t want to admit to the hypocrisy of being just as faith driven as Christians. They’ve spent years denying it, so to admit it now would be very embarrassing. But even after years of denial, the old adages hold true: confession is good for the soul, and honesty is the best policy.
Given the clearly faith infused motivation to retain discredited theories and discredit viable alternative ones, it’s laughable for scientists to maintain they are objective, follow only the evidence, and are only science based, not faith based. This masquerade is a particularly repugnant aspect of the unmistakable arrogance of some. Unfortunately until the world starts calling the scientists on these behaviors – making them acknowledge that it is by faith they hold to theories that go contrary to both reason and known scientific laws – they will remain an arrogant crowd, who look down on those who espouse theories contrary to their own, and will remain accountable to no one. Least of all to creationist scientists with evidence that exposes their misplaced faith and hypocrisy.
Duane Caldwell | posted 1/22/2015 | printer friendly version
Notes:
1 Sagan, Carl Cosmos, Random House 1980, p. 4
2 Theodosius Dobzhansky as a way of criticizing creationism. see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_in_Biology_Makes_Sense_Except_in_the_Light_of_Evolution
3 See: http://creation.com/no-sale-for-darwin
for comments on how evolution is “superfluous” as Wilkins put it, which includes comments by:
– Jerry Coyne, biologist and outspoken evolution support;
– A.S. Wilkins, editor of the journal BioEssays;
– Philip Skell, a member of the National Academy of Sciences
Also:http://creation.com/french-creation
for comments by French scientist Dr André Eggen, Ph.D. in genetics
4 For example, Paul Steinhardt currently the Albert Einstein Professor in Science at Princeton University speaking of the singularity states:
“This is normally referred to as the cosmic singularity, some sort of breakdown in the laws of physics, which in the standard big bang theory you simply
ignore.”
Through the Wormhole episode What Happened before the beginning, Documentary, 2010 ~48.15
5 On July 4, 2012 Fabiola Gianotti, CERN/ATLAS Experiment and Joe Incandela Cern/CMS Experiment held a conference to announce they had found the long sought after Higgs Boson.
“Big Bang Machine” Nova Science documentary, 2015
6 Sean Carroll, referenced from “Big Bang Machine” Nova Science documentary, 2015
7 The full title of Leonard Susskind’s book is The Cosmic Landscape – String Theory and the illusion of Intelligent Design, Little, Brown and Company, 2006
8 The full title of Michio Kaku’s book is Parallel Worlds, A Journey through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos, Doubleday, 2005
9 The concept of an inference to the best explanation is explained in
The Poor Marksmanship of Evolutionists
Higgs field depiction source – “Big Bang Machine” Nova Science documentary, 2015
