I see a World in a grain of sand,
And a Heaven in a wild flower
William Blake
Time for Science Uprising
Scientists like Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Lawrence Kraus claim that the existence of God has been discredited by new discoveries of modern science. To them, contemporary cosmology, evolution and neuroscience have demonstrated conclusively that the universe spontaneously emerged from a quantum vacuum and that human beings are nothing more than evolving complex bio-chemical machines. The idea of God is unnecessary and irrelevant to our quest for knowledge and understanding of humanity and the universe.
Such atheistic claims are not surprising since these scientists espouse a form of scientific naturalism or “scientism” – the view that all phenomena are fundamentally physical. Since all events (including the mental realm of human beings) are due to physical causes, scientific investigation must be restricted to what is physically observable and measurable.
The media gives the impression that the assertions of these scientists should not be doubted since they have been experimentally verified and unanimously accepted by the scientific community. However, the truth is that most of the claims regarding the origins and fundamental nature of the universe and human beings are not the direct results of scientific experiments but are unfounded extrapolations based on the atheistic assumptions of atheistic scientists. Regardless, the claims of these atheistic scientists have assumed the status of dogmas that cannot be questioned.
However, if inquirers are no longer allowed to question the presuppositions and findings of science (that must by definition be provisional), then science has become an ideology (“scientific naturalism” or “scientism”). Scientism assumes the status and character of a new religion with its dogmas propagated by an authoritative, if not infallible priesthood of scientists.
Scientism is a threat to the spirit of critical inquiry and its dogmas must be challenged so that freedom of inquiry may be preserved. The public should take a critical look at the prevailing dogmas of scientism. It is time for a “Science Uprising” against the tyranny of scientism.
The series of short videos Science Uprising provide thoughtful and provocative challenges to the central dogmas of scientism (so far there are far six episodes, each of about 8 minutes long).
1) Realism vs. Materialism (Science Uprising 01)
2) No, You’re Not a Robot Made Out of Meat (Science Uprising 02) –
3) DNA Is Code: Who Coded It? (Science Uprising 03)
4) Fine Tuning: You Don’t Suck! (Science Uprising 04)
5) Origin of Life: Intelligence Required (Science Uprising 05)
6) Mutations: X-Men Flub Evolution (Science Uprising 06)
More videos on the way?
Beyond Science Uprising
You don’t have to agree with everything taught in the videos. After all, the findings of science (including its critics) are by nature tentative and subject to further testing. More importantly, your approach should not be a symptom of prejudice against science. Christian faith does not gain credibility by taking pot shots at science. There should be no “God of the gaps” where faith is brought when current science is unable to provide an explanation of certain phenomenon. This approach can only result in the diminishing relevance of God whenever new discoveries allow science to fill in the gaps.
The “God of the gaps” forces Christians to serve either God or science. However, there should be no dichotomy between science and Christian faith. Either God is in the whole of Nature, with no gaps or he is not there at all. God must be found within the known, and not the unknown. Christians need to go beyond the spirit of defensiveness and include science in their quest for a deeper understanding of God and his creation.
There is no hope for a religious belief which either clings despairingly to the past, or digs its heels hard into the ground in defence of some hedgehog position, or searches out some unappropriated territory in which a “God of the Gaps” could be installed. We must seek some alternative mode of thought, and it must be one that will do justice to the splendor, the power, and the dynamic and progressive character of science.
There seems to me to be only one way out of our dilemma. If we cannot bring God in at the end of science, He must be there at the very start, and right through it. We have done wrong to set up any sharp anthithesis between science and religion. Science itself must be a religious activity: “a fit subject for a Sabbath day’s study.”[Charles Coulson, Science and Christian Belief 2ed (Fontana, 1971), p. 44]
We hold these truths…
Contrary to the assertions of atheistic scientists, scientific discoveries point to the presence of God in creation and scientists can be part of the company of God’s heralds.