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Tag: Religion vs Science

  • Big Bang Theory Actually Has Religious Roots

    Many Americans remain wary of the Big Bang Theory, particularly from a religious standpoint.

    There is a popular misconception about what it means to believe in certain scientific theories. That one must reject or mock a belief in gods or a God in order to embrace them.

    This is simply not in keeping with the behavior of some of the great minds of science, persons who were not interested in denying either their faith or fascination with the world of science.

    In fact, did you know that the Big Bang Theory has been credited to a Catholic priest?

    Georges Lemaître, who was a Belgian cosmologist and Catholic priest, wrote a paper in 1931 that closely resembles what we now know of as the theory of the Big Bang. He titled it, “The Beginning of the World from the Point of View of Quantum Theory”.

    Lemaître believed that the universe is expanding and that all of it originated from a single point in space.

    One of the reasons why his name remains largely unknown is that his theory was said to have been wrongly attributed to one Edwin Hubble.

    It was the combination of Hubble’s observations, that the other galaxies were moving away from our own at high speeds, and Lemaître’s theories that suggested to the scientific community that a Big Bang was highly likely to have occurred.

    Lemaître’s work was declared by Pope Pius XII to be “a scientific validation of the Catholic faith.”

    Albert Einstein was said to have been impressed with Lemaître’s theories, reportedly applauding him and saying, “This is the most beautiful and satisfactory explanation of creation to which I have ever listened.”

    The Belgian cosmologist himself didn’t see his scientific work as directly linked to his religious faith. In fact, he had a very strong reason for separating the two:

    As far as I can see, such a theory remains entirely outside any metaphysical or religious question. It leaves the materialist free to deny any transcendental Being… For the believer, it removes any attempt at familiarity with God.

    Lemaître seemed to think of his faith and scientific research as parallel and equal. He did not need one to prove or disprove the other. He did not feel the need to use one to validate the other. He simply maintained his own beliefs about the universe from both a religious and scientific point of view.

    Today, it seems that many cannot imagine science and religion as parallel rather than at odds with one another.

    The “Father of the Big Bang Theory” and his approach to science holds a valuable lesson for many.

    Namely that you believe spiritually is not necessarily the enemy of what you understand scientifically.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Bill Nye “Science Guy” Debates “Creationist” Ken Ham

    The debate that has raged for centuries, or at least since Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was formulated, and consequent book, “The Origin of the Species” has had religious nuts and science nerds at odds arguing from whence we came. The Bible says one thing science says another.

    The controversy about Tuesday’s debate between “Science Guy” Bill Nye and creationist Ken Ham is no different. When evolutionists face off with creationists – it stirs up a lot of hostility. Even though science has the proof of human evolution, creationists still want to argue.

    The event is being held at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky and in an op-ed published on CNN.com Monday.

    The event can be heard live on YouTube, the evening of Feb 4th.

    Ham is participating in addition to arguing his beliefs, so that this debate might give creationism more of a public voice, he told TheBlaze.

    Ham’s intentions of integrating creationism into the public schools system is also part of the reason he’s taking the theory of evolution on.

    “While we are not in favor of mandating that creation be taught in public school science classes, we believe that, at the very least, instructors should have the academic freedom to bring up the problems with evolution,” he said.

    Ham has stated, they both (he and Nye) have a love for “operational science,” but that there is a difference between what can be seen, and theories that are based on “beliefs about the past, which cannot be tested in the laboratory.”

    Ham is also frustrated that public school children “are censored” from hearing challenges to evolution.

    “Most students are presented only with the evolutionary belief system in their schools, and they are censored from hearing challenges to it,” he continued. “Let our young people understand science correctly and hear both sides of the origins issue and then evaluate them.

    Nye, who hosted PBS’s “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” said that he isn’t going into the debate with Ham as a scientist, but that he plans to debate evolution and creationism as “a reasonable man.”

    “Well I don’t think I’m going to win Mr. Ham over any more than Mr. Ham thinks he’s going to win me over, if I understand that expression ‘win over,’” he told HuffPost Live’s Josh Zepps in an interview this week. “Instead, I want to show people that this belief is still among us … it finds its way onto school boards in the United States.”

    “I’m not going in really as a scientist as such. I want to remind everybody — I’m a mechanical engineer,” Nye said. “I’m going in as a reasonable man and I think that to just call attention to this belief system has value.”

    Atheists such as Richard Dawkins advised Nye against such a debate, pointing out that scientists engaging with creationists is ideologically dangerous and gives undue publicity to those who oppose evolution.

    “The guy challenged me to a duel. What am I gonna do?” Nye argued.

    However, Nye said that he is “frightened” by the push for creationism in science textbooks and instruction.

    “If the United States produces a generation of science students who don’t believe in science, that’s troublesome,” he said. “We want to raise the most scientifically literate students that we can.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons