Transcript Religion and Science

Science and religion
An Introduction
By the end of the lesson students will be able to study
a range of views and assess the links between religion
and science
Starter: Key Words
Evolution
Creation
Creationist
Fundamentalist
Adaptation
Survival of the
fittest
Origin of the
Species
Liberal
Big Bang
Natural Selection
Cosmology
Expansion
Contraction
Infinity
Eternity
Put into either ‘Against believe in God’ or ‘For
Believe in God’
What do the
following
images
suggest
about the
links
between
science
and
religion?
Task
Draw speech bubbles and add comments for ‘Theistic Fleas’
and ‘Atheistic Fleas’
Some Questions for Development
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Is the universe finite or infinite in extent and
content?
Is it eternal or does it have a beginning?
Was it created? If not, how did it get here? If so,
how was this creation accomplished and what
can we learn about the agent and events of
creation?
Who or what governs the laws and constants of
physics? Are such laws the product of chance or
have they been designed? How do they relate to
the support and development of life?
Is there any knowable existence beyond the
known dimensions of the universe?
Will the universe expand forever or will it
eventually end up in a ‘big crunch’?
Christian Arguments
The cosmological argument: the effect of the
universe's existence must have a suitable
cause.
The teleological argument: the design of the
universe implies a purpose or direction behind it.
The rational argument: the operation of the
universe, according to order and natural law,
implies a mind behind it.
The ontological argument: man's ideas of God
(his God-consciousness) implies a God who
imprinted such a consciousness.
The moral argument: man's built-in sense of
right and wrong can be accounted for only by an
innate awareness of a code of law--an
awareness implanted by a higher being.
In the very beginning, there was a void, a curious form of vacuum, a
nothingness containing no space, no time, no matter, no light, no
sound. Yet the laws of nature were in place and this curious vacuum
held potential. A story logically begins at the beginning, but this story is
about the universe and unfortunately there are no data for the very
beginnings--none, zero. We don't know anything about the universe
until it reaches the mature age of a billion of a trillionth of a second.
That is, some very short time after creation in the big bang. When you
read or hear anything about the birth of the universe, someone is
making it up--we are in the realm of philosophy. Only God knows what
happened at the very beginning.
Lederman
"I believe in Spinoza's God who
reveals Himself in the orderly
harmony of what exists, not in a
God who concerns himself with
fates and actions of human
beings."
- Albert Einstein
Religion and Science:
Irreconcilable?
There is no necessary conflict
between science and religion if the
nature of religion is properly
understood.
Einstein
Religious Feeling in Science
Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit
of science becomes convinced that a spirit is
manifest in the laws of the Universe-a spirit vastly
superior to that of man.... In this way the pursuit of
science leads to a religious feeling of a special
sort, which is indeed quite different from the
religiousity of someone more naive.
Letter to a child who asked if scientists pray,
January 24, 1936; Einstein Archive 42-601
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2.
3.
4.
Evidence?
Fossils
DNA
?
?
Is this enough to be conclusive?
What is it that breathes fire
into the equations
and makes a universe
for them to govern? …
Although science
may solve the problem
of how the universe began,
it cannot answer the question:
Why does the universe
bother to exist?
––
––
Stephen Hawking,
The Hand of God, p. 72.
The size of the universe
80,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles to the furthermost galaxy (80
octillion miles)
600,000,000,000,000,000 miles to the edge of our galaxy (600 quadrillion
miles)
100,000,000,000 stars in our galaxy (100 billion)
25,000,000,000 miles to the nearest star (25 billion miles)
4,000,000,000 miles to Pluto 4 billion miles)
93,000,000 miles to the sun
To grasp these sizes,
Earth a cricketball
Moon a ping pong ball 10 feet away
Sun a 36 foot balloon about a mile away
Pluto a ping pong ball in 35 miles away
The nearest star (Alpha Centauri) is 200,000 miles away, about to the moon.
The edge of our Milky Way galaxy is at the orbit of Jupiter.
The furthermost galaxy is 625 trillion miles away.
"There is a sense in which every Christian is a "creationist,"
for every Christian believes that he or she lives in a universe
that is a creation,
and that the Source of creation is the God who is revealed in
the Bible
as "maker of heaven and earth."
This is true, whether the Christian is a young-earth creationist,
an old earth creationist,
an intelligent design creationist,
or an evolutionary creationist.
While these various creationists may strongly disagree among
themselves
about the "how" of creation,
and subscribe to different portraits of creation,
they do agree on certain essential beliefs or doctrines about
creation,
and these beliefs are anchored in the revelations of Holy
Scripture..
Dr. Robert Schneider
ASA LISTSERV, Jan 12, 2003.
Plenary- In pairs- Is this the best approach?