Does God Exist?

Does God Exist?

“The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”

- Richard Dawkins

Does God Exist?

“For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made...”

- Apostle Paul (Romans 1:20)

1. The UniverseThe Cosmological Argument

"…the first question which we have a right to ask will be, 'Why is there something rather than nothing?"

- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

1. The Universe

1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause.

2. The universe began to exist.

3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.

The Cosmological Argument

1. The Universe

• Foundational principle

• Empirical support

Everything that begins to exist has a cause.

1. The Universe

1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause.

2. The universe began to exist.

3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.

The Cosmological Argument

1. The Universe

• Big Bang Cosmology

The universe began to exist.

1. The Universe

• Edwin Hubble - Discovered in 1929 that the universe is expanding (based on galactic redshift).

Evidence for Big Bang Cosmology

Galactic Redshift

1. The Universe

• George Gamow - Predicted in 1946 that there would be microwave background radiation from the extremely hot early stage of the universe.

• Discovered in 1965

Evidence for Big Bang Cosmology

Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

1. The Universe

• Big Bang Cosmology

• 2nd Law of Thermodynamics

The universe began to exist.

1. The UniverseThe universe began to exist.

2nd Law of Thermodynamics - in all energy exchanges, if no energy enters or leaves the system, the potential energy of the state will always be less than that of the initial state. (example, heat from a fire disperses)

1. The Universe

• Big Bang Cosmology

• 2nd Law of Thermodynamics

• Borde-Guth-Vilenkin Theorem

The universe began to exist.

1. The Universe

“It is said that an argument is what convinces reasonable men and a proof is what it takes to convince even an unreasonable man. With the proof now in place, cosmologists can no longer hide behind the possibility of a past-eternal universe. There is no escape, they have to face the problem of a cosmic beginning.”

- Dr. Alexander Vilenkin (agnostic physicist)

The universe began to exist.

1. The Universe

1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause.

2. The universe began to exist.

3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.

The Cosmological Argument

1. The Universe

• Immaterial - Created all matter

• Timeless - Created time

• Personal

Nature of the cause.

1. The Universe

• Button pushed from eternity (universe would be eternal)

• Button pushed by a physical cause like a Rube Goldberg machine.

• Button pushed by a personal agent.

Nature of the cause.

1. The Universe

1) Abstract objects

2) Minds

Nature of the cause.

2 Types of Immaterial Entities

1. The Universe

"Astronomers now find they have painted themselves into a corner because they have proven, by their own methods, that the world began abruptly in an act of creation to which you can trace the seeds of every star, every planet, every living thing in this cosmos and on the earth. And they have found that all this happened as a product of forces they cannot hope to discover. That there are what I or anyone would call supernatural forces at work is now, I think, a scientifically proven fact."

- Dr. Robert Jastrow (agnostic physicist)

The Cosmological Argument

2. Intelligent LifeThe Design Argument

“…Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist.”

- Richard Dawkins

2. Intelligent Life

1. Cosmological Constant (10^53)

Examples of Fine-Tuning

2. Intelligent Life

• Controls the expansion rate of the universe.

• Too Large = Universe flies apart

• Zero or Negative = Universe collapses

• 1 in 10^53

The Cosmological Constant

2. Intelligent Life

1. Cosmological Constant (10^53)

2. Gravity (10^36)

Examples of Fine-Tuning

2. Intelligent Life

• Too Strong = Land based animals larger than insects crushed.

• Zero or Negative = No stars or solid bodies could form.

• 10^36

Gravity

2. Intelligent Life

1. Cosmological Constant (10^53)

2. Gravity (10^36)

3. Multi-Parameter Combinations Required for Existence of Stars (10^229)

Examples of Fine-Tuning

2. Intelligent LifeParameters Required for Star Formation

“Were the neutron heavier by only one percent, the proton light by the same amount, the electron twice as massive, its electric charge twenty percent stronger, the neutrino as massive as the electron etc. there would be no stable nuclei at all. There would be no stars, no chemistry. The universe would be just hydrogen gas . . . .”

- Dr. Lee Smolin (atheist physicist)

2. Intelligent LifeParameters Required for Star Formation

“To illustrate how truly ridiculous this number is, we might note that the part of the universe we can see from earth contains about 10^22 stars which together contain about 10^80 protons and neutrons. These numbers are gigantic, but they are infinitesimal compared to 10^229. In my opinion , a probability this tiny is not something we can let go unexplained. Luck will certainly not do here; we need some rational explanation of how something this unlikely turned out to be the case.”

- Dr. Lee Smolin (atheist physicist)

2. Intelligent Life

1. The fine-tuning of the universe is due to chance, physical necessity, or design.

2. The fine-tuning is not due to chance or physical necessity.

3. Therefore, the fine-tuning of the universe is due to design.

The Design Argument

2. Intelligent Life

1. No evidence yet for a Grand Unified Theory

2. Does not account for the initial conditions of the universe.

3. Grand Unified Theories don’t necessarily eliminate fine-tuning

Fine-Tuning: Due to Physical Necessity?

2. Intelligent LifeFine-Tuning: Due to Physical Necessity?

“Despite all the progress in gauge theories, quantum gravity, string theory etc. not one of these problems has been solved. Not one mass or coupling constant of any particle considered now to be elementary has ever been explained by fundamental theory.”

- Dr. Lee Smolin (atheist physicist)

2. Intelligent Life

1. Hit the bullseye by sheer luck.

2. Increase the size of the bullseye

3. Throw lots of darts

Fine-Tuning: Due to Chance?

2. Intelligent LifeHitting the bullseye by luck

• If the universe were not life-permitting, we would not be here to notice!

2. Intelligent LifeThe Firing Squad Analogy

2. Intelligent LifeThe Firing Squad Analogy

1. We should NOT be surprised that we DON’T observe that we are dead.

2. We SHOULD be surprised to observe that we are alive.

2. Intelligent LifeIncreasing the size of the bullseye

1. Are all fine-tuning examples mistaken?

2. Could there be other, exotic forms of life?

2. Intelligent LifeThrowing lots of darts - The Multiverse Hypothesis

1. Doesn’t necessarily explain fine-tuning

2. The Multiverse requires fine-tuning

2. Intelligent LifeExample: Andre Linde’s Chaotic Inflation Multiverse

1. Supply the energy needed for the bubble universes

2. Form the bubbles

3. Convert the energy of inflaton field to the normal mass/energy we find in our universe.

4. Allow enough variation in constants of physics among universes.

Requires mechanisms to:

2. Intelligent LifeThrowing lots of darts - The Multiverse Hypothesis

1. Doesn’t necessarily explain fine-tuning

2. The Multiverse requires fine-tuning

3. Observational evidence against the Multiverse

2. Intelligent LifeThrowing lots of darts - The Multiverse Hypothesis

Odds of a Fine-Tuned Universe

10^10(123)

Odds of our Solar System forming by random particle collision

10^10(60)

Calculations by Roger Penrose

2. Intelligent LifeThe Teleological Argument

. . . A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question.

- Dr. Fred Hoyle (atheist astronomer)

Questions?

OBJECTIONS

Scientific Progress vs. Theism?

1. The Beginning of the Universe

2. Fine-Tuning

3. Spontaneous Generation and the Origin of Life

Pro Theism

Against Theism?

1. Theory of Evolution

2. Weather Phenomena

God of the Gaps?

1. Philosophical arguments merely supported by current scientific evidence.

2. Conclusions follow from premises, whether we like the conclusions or not.

Could There Be Multiple Gods?

1. Possibly, but this would still be theism and it would refute naturalism/atheism.

2. Occam’s Razor would suggest that additional gods should be shaved away in favor of the simplicity of single-God theism.

Any Evidence for Christian Theism?

1. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

2. The empty tomb.

3. Post-mortem appearances to Jesus’ followers (including the conversion of Saul of Tarsus and Joseph, brother of Jesus)

4. Origination of the Christian faith in spite of severe disadvantages.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Is Belief in God Evolved?Genetic Fallacy - When an idea is either accepted or rejected because of its source, rather than its merit.

How Could God Cause the Universe Without Time?

Simultaneous Causation - The second main argument against the causal order being the temporal order is that simultaneous causation is possible. Indeed, it might seem that simultaneous causation occurs in the actual world, for instance when an iron ball depresses a cushion (Kant 1965, Taylor 1966, Brand 1980).

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/causation-metaphysics/

Hartle-Hawking Model?

1. Susceptible to the Borde-Guth-Vilenkin Theorem.

2. Uses concept of ‘imaginary time’ to avoid the singularity, a dubious metaphysical move.

Contra Borde-Guth-Vilenkin Theorem?

“For many physicists, the beginning of the universe is uncomfortable, because it suggests that something must have caused the beginning, that there should be some cause outside the universe,”

- Alexander Vilenkin

Quantum Vacuum Fluctuations

“The processes described here do not represent the creation of matter out of nothing, but the conversion of pre-existing energy into material form.”

- Dr. Paul Davies (agnostic physicist)

An Exception to the Causal Premise?