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Can Science Rule Out God

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
I ran across this article in Scientific American. It is written by a past editor of the Magazine, who now writes fiction, and is suprised that the concept of of God keeps arising in his own books.

Can Science Rule Out God?
We must understand the laws of nature before we can deduce their origins
Can Science Rule Out God?
 

sooda

Veteran Member
I ran across this article in Scientific American. It is written by a past editor of the Magazine, who now writes fiction, and is suprised that the concept of of God keeps arising in his own books.

Can Science Rule Out God?
We must understand the laws of nature before we can deduce their origins
Can Science Rule Out God?

Interesting excerpt:

By the 20th century, most scientists no longer devised proofs of God’s existence, but the connection between physics and faith hadn’t been entirely severed. Einstein, who frequently spoke about religion, didn’t believe in a personal God who influences history or human behavior, but he wasn’t an atheist either. He preferred to call himself agnostic, although he sometimes leaned toward the pantheism of Jewish-Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza, who proclaimed, in the 17th century, that God is identical with nature.

Likewise, Einstein compared the human race to a small child in a library full of books written in unfamiliar languages: “The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of the human mind, even the greatest and most cultured, toward God. We see a universe marvelously arranged, obeying certain laws, but we understand the laws only dimly.”

Einstein often invoked God when he talked about physics. In 1919, after British scientists confirmed Einstein’s general theory of relativity by detecting the bending of starlight around the sun, he was asked how he would’ve reacted if the researchers hadn’t found the supporting evidence. “Then I would have felt sorry for the dear Lord,” Einstein said. “The theory is correct.” His attitude was a strange mix of humility and arrogance. He was clearly awed by the laws of physics and grateful that they were mathematically decipherable. (“
 
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Salvador

RF's Swedenborgian
The God hypothesis is neither verifiable nor falsifiable; such conjecture such as God-did-it can neither be proven nor disproved as correct theory; hence, science can neither rule out God's existence nor postulate God's existence. Right?
 

McBell

Resident Sourpuss
I ran across this article in Scientific American. It is written by a past editor of the Magazine, who now writes fiction, and is suprised that the concept of of God keeps arising in his own books.

Can Science Rule Out God?
We must understand the laws of nature before we can deduce their origins
Can Science Rule Out God?
From article:
"Although quantum theory is now the foundation of particle physics, many scientists still share Einstein’s discomfort with its implications. The theory has revealed aspects of nature that seem supernatural: the act of observing something can apparently alter its reality, and quantum entanglement can weave together distant pieces of spacetime. (Einstein derisively called it “spooky action at a distance.”) The laws of nature also put strict limits on what we can learn about the universe. We can’t peer inside black holes, for example, or view anything that lies beyond the distance that light has traveled since the start of the big bang."​

As did Lightning, before it was learned what caused it.
As was the tide, before it was learned what discovered it.
The list goes on and on...
 

bobhikes

Nondetermined
Premium Member
I ran across this article in Scientific American. It is written by a past editor of the Magazine, who now writes fiction, and is suprised that the concept of of God keeps arising in his own books.

Can Science Rule Out God?
We must understand the laws of nature before we can deduce their origins
Can Science Rule Out God?

No but only because the definition is to vague and keeps changing. They can and do rule out specific events such as the Flood or the 10000 year old planet but no Science can not rule out god and in fact many scientist's are believers I've even met a few Biologists that were very religious.
 

Redemptionsong

Well-Known Member
I ran across this article in Scientific American. It is written by a past editor of the Magazine, who now writes fiction, and is suprised that the concept of of God keeps arising in his own books.

Can Science Rule Out God?
We must understand the laws of nature before we can deduce their origins
Can Science Rule Out God?

The pathway of science is littered with failed theories and half-truths. It's a story of the 'particular' seeking the 'universal'.

The great philosophers and thinkers, even without special revelation, had insight into an infinite world beyond the transience of nature. They imagined a GOOD, a universal ideal. They believed this world was just a playground of shadows and reflections of the light.

The inductive methods of science allow for a gradual building towards the truth. The true source of light is God's revelation of Himself and His creation.

Isaiah 54. 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.'

Fools say that God does not exist. Great philosophers are capable of imagining God. Open hearts are sunflowers to the light.
 

SigurdReginson

Grēne Mann
Premium Member
That article makes a hell of a lot of assumptions and jumps to a lot of conclusions. I couldn't finish it.

If a god exists, it has such a hands off approach to our world that I struggle to find a reason to acknowledge it's existence, assuming it's real. What can be known for sure, though, is whether or not different ideas on this supposed higher entity (whatever that means) do exist, and they can be tested. So far, the ideas I see have fallen short of observable reality. Until that changes, I'm not impressed.

Take away a specific god(s) from a people, and it's memory dies forever -these gods exist outside of observable reality. Take away sceintific knowledge from people, and it can be rediscovered -the rules of nature exist within observable reality. Both of these things have happened in the past many, many times. They will most likely happen in the future, too.
 

Earthtank

Active Member
Curious. What exactly is metaphysical, and how do you know of it's existance?
Based off the 100s of people I have spoken to, 1000s of hours of videos i watched (debates, conversations, lectures, speeches,etc...) and countless books i have read. I did not say he does or does not exist, what i am saying is the anyone and everyone that understands God knows, God is metaphysical and science does not (and cannot) deal with that. That's why people are wasting their time trying to prove/disprove God through science.
 

SigurdReginson

Grēne Mann
Premium Member
Based off the 100s of people I have spoken to, 1000s of hours of videos i watched (debates, conversations, lectures, speeches,etc...) and countless books i have read. I did not say he does or does not exist, what i am saying is the anyone and everyone that understands God knows, God is metaphysical and science does not (and cannot) deal with that. That's why people are wasting their time trying to prove/disprove God through science.

Lectures are nice and all that, but if something exists outside of reality, what does that look like? Why should anyone assume it's existance if it cannot be measured or even seen with any tools?
 

Earthtank

Active Member
Lectures are nice and all that, but if something exists outside of reality, what does that look like? Why should anyone assume it's existance if it cannot be measured or even seen with any tools?

You seem to be going off on something completely different than what the thread was intended for. You are going off into theology. Personally, I disagree with the stance you have taken however, that's a different conversation for a different thread.
 

gnostic

The Lost One
I ran across this article in Scientific American. It is written by a past editor of the Magazine, who now writes fiction, and is suprised that the concept of of God keeps arising in his own books.

Can Science Rule Out God?
We must understand the laws of nature before we can deduce their origins
Can Science Rule Out God?

We can rule out much of everything god say he was responsible for in Job 38, 39, 40 & 41.

Nothing in these chapters (in Job) have any scientific merit. What they do demonstrate, is the author’s lack of understanding about nature. All Job’s author do prove is that the author believed in God-did-it superstitions.

We certainly understand nature, the science behind it all, better than any time of the ancient past.
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
I ran across this article in Scientific American. It is written by a past editor of the Magazine, who now writes fiction, and is suprised that the concept of of God keeps arising in his own books.

Can Science Rule Out God?
We must understand the laws of nature before we can deduce their origins
Can Science Rule Out God?
IMO, the answer has to be "no", especially since we can't even determine whether we are part of a multiverse that might have spun our universe off at some point.

Or, to put it another way, I'm old, but not that old whereas I can tell.
 

pearl

Well-Known Member
Interesting article.
"But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. To spur humanity’s search for meaning, we should prioritize the funding of advanced telescopes and other scientific instruments that can provide the needed data to researchers studying fundamental physics. And maybe this effort will lead to breakthroughs in theology as well. The pivotal role of observers in quantum theory is very curious. Is it possible that the human race has a cosmic purpose after all? Did the universe blossom into an untold number of realities, each containing billions of galaxies and vast oceans of emptiness between them, just to produce a few scattered communities of observers? Is the ultimate goal of the universe to observe its own splendor?"

Also interesting, the Vatican maintains its own observatory.
Vatican Observatory - Wikipedia
 

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
I'll read the article in a bit, but it is probably safe to assume that the writer is going to make the usual classical monotheist assumptions when approaching god-concepts. For polytheist/pantheist theologies like mine, to suggest that the sciences can rule out the gods is nonsense considering the sciences are literally studying the gods. I pursued post-graduate study in the sciences in no small part because I wanted to serve/know the gods better.

The only way of knowing that can rule out the gods is philosophy by defining gods in such a way that you can eliminate their possibility in your worldview.

EDITED to add - not a bad article if one is looking for an approach that limits itself to classical monotheism. I suppose it shouldn't be expected for a writer to give an exhaustive overview of theological approaches, and that they actually mention pantheism is a plus.
 
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