Does Science Make Belief in God Obsolete? Essay Example

The purpose of this brief paper is to describe two points of view for the question, “Does science make belief in God obsolete?” and to make a personal reaction to what both authors say. Taking the affirmative on the question is Victor J. Stenger, a retired physics, astronomy, and philosophy professor of the Universities of Hawaii and Colorado. The affirmative position is taken by Keith Ward, a Fellow of the British Academy, and an ordained priest in the Church of England.

Stenger concedes that once there was a strong argument for the existence of God but that the advances in scientific inquiry have shattered those positions. He reasons that the work of Paley, who put for an original case for design was answered by one of his compatriots, Darwin, whose theory of natural selection revolutionized how people thought of themselves in relation to God.

Another repudiation made by Stenger is the assertion that The Second Law of Physics, traced to Carnot and stating universal order increases with time (Jaynes), became dated when Hubble, the astronomer, came out, almost a century ago, with his theory of an ever-expanding universe.

Stenger finds “…no evidence that God pokes his finger in anyplace” in an attempt to bring order to a chaotic universe. He finds it “incoherent” that, given the gains in scientific thought that are ours, that any thinking person could cling to a notion that there is a God who created the universe and meddles in the affairs of humankind.

On the other hand, Ward finds modern science to reinforce the belief in God held by millions of people. Ward uses his definition of God as a foundation for making such claims: “[God] is a non-physical being of consciousness and intelligence or wisdom, who creates the universe for the sake of distinctive values that the universe generates”. The universe, when held to this definition, could only be the product of intelligent creation.

Ward finds that Compte’s positivistic impressions have been discounted by modern, quantum physicists and that Kant’s proposal that “our senses only reveal reality as it appears to us” as referring to our consciousness, which is the only reality that we can express. Science, for Ward, does not rule out the possibility of God any more than it rules out the possibility of any other non-physical entity. God’s laws are “law-governed, measurable, predictable, [and] publicly observable,”Ward reasons. Ostensibly, this makes God himself scientific, if Ward’s logic is followed to its fullest conclusion.

Ward agrees with Weinberg, who has suggested that intelligent life works its way into the cosmos in ways that are preordained, and he makes the distinction of the difference between a philosophical hypothesis such as this against a scientific hypothesis that would most surely render belief in God to be irrelevant and even absurd.

My reaction to these views follows a typical course for one, such as myself, who approaches this from the perspective of a Christian. In my opinion, Stenger and those who would agree with him, only embrace things that are quantified or proven scientifically, because God does not have to conform to physical norms for people to believe in God’s existence.I agree with Ward’s answer to this question, but I would have a different way of explaining the position that God and science are not at odds, but compatible. To me, the acceptance or rejection of God comes in the person of Jesus, who is much more quantifiable and understood from a physical realm. If a person can believe the message of the God-person, Jesus, then science and its discoveries do not become affronts to belief in the divine but more as plausible confirmations of creation itself.

Works Cited

Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6^th Edition. 01 Oct 2009.

Jaynes, E. T. “The Evolution of Carnot’s Principle,” in G. J. Erickson and C. R. Smith (eds.) Maximum-Entropy and Bayesian Methods in Science and Engineering,    Vol. 1, p. 267.

Ward, Keith. “Does Science Make Belief in God Obsolete?” John Templeton       Foundation. 01 Mar 2010 <http://www.templeton.org/belief/essays/ward.pdf>

Stenger, Victor. “Does Science Make Belief in God Obsolete?” John Templeton Foundation. 01 Mar 2010 <http://www.templeton.org.belief/essays/stenger.pdf>