Thursday, October 30, 2014

Silly atheist attack on the Pope

Here is a current academic evolutionist attack on creationism, in today's New Republic. Leftist-atheist-evolutionist Jerry A. Coyne writes Stop Celebrating the Pope's Views on Evolution and the Big Bang. They Make No Sense. Then he announces that he is refusing to read the comments. He quotes the Pope:
The Big Bang, which today we hold to be the origin of the world, does not contradict the intervention of the divine creator but, rather, requires it. ...
Coyne then attacks:
Let’s start with the Big Bang, which, said Francis, requires the intervention of God. I’m pretty sure physicists haven’t put that factor into their equations yet, nor have I read any physicists arguing that God was an essential factor in the beginning of the universe. We know now that the universe could have originated from “nothing” through purely physical processes, if you see “nothing” as the “quantum vacuum” of empty space. Some physicists also think that there are multiple universes, each with a separate, naturalistic origin. Francis’s claim that the Big Bang required God is simply an unsupported speculation based on outmoded theological arguments that God was the First Cause of Everything.
The Pope is not a scientist, and I don't doubt that he uses theological arguments that lack scientific support. My concern here is with scientists misrepresenting the science.

Physicists have no idea whether God or anything was a factor in the beginning of the Big Bang. We have no observational evidence. The closest was supposed to be the BICEP2 data, but that is in serious doubt.

We do not know that the universe could have originated from nothing.

We have no evidence for multiple universes.

Coyne accuses the Pope of unsupported speculation, but the same could be said for multiple universes, or the universe originating from nothing.

1 comment:

  1. The big bang is about as close to a miraculous supernatural event (or joke) as it gets. Even Genesis originally had the creator using 'the waters of chaos' as the pre-existing raw materials from which to create the world. The story only became a 'creation ex nihilo' treatise because of presumptuous theologians who were uncomfortable with the idea that even the creator couldn't create without building materials.

    I'm not sure why any scientist would want to defend any premise that is predicated on absurdity, 'it just happened for no apparent reason'. If a scientist has no data or measureable observation, they should remain silent, or even better, say "I simply do not know.' No causation, no effect. No exceptions.

    ReplyDelete