Room for God in the holes of Science

The question most asked by four-year-old children and scientists alike is, "Where did we come from?" Religion, of course, thinks it knows the answer. Does it? Maybe. For many, many years, scientists avoided the question of creation altogether by assuming that the universe had always existed, but the second law of thermodynamics states essentially that everything is moving toward disorder. According to Paul Davies, this means the universe "will eventually die, wallowing, as it were, in its own entropy. According to what we know about the birth and death of stars, we know our sun will eventually burn out. The earth's core will eventually cool. It follows that if our universe had always existed, it would have died an infinite amount of time ago. We would not be here now.

Other evidence exists in support of the Big Bang Theory. In 1978, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson were awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering "some mysterious radiation coming from space." The temperature of this mysterious radiation was only measured at three degrees above absolute zero, but it still harbors great amounts of energy. This relatively recent discovery in physics is thought to be the remains of the heat created during the Big Bang. It is important to keep in mind that any evidence that supports the Big Bang theory ironically supports the idea of God as creator, because it means our world was created at a certain point in time.

So the universe came about at a certain point in time. It was "created." But did God have anything to do with it? Finding evidence to support God's role in the creation of the universe is a classic example of looking for God "in the holes" of science. In the laboratory, humans have very nearly been able to create something out of nothing. Einstein's equation e=mc² states basically that mass equals energy. In a sense, matter is "locked-up energy." If energy is concentrated enough, matter will appear. So, God may not have been necessary in the creation of matter. One question remains, however. Where did the original energy come from? The possibility exists, of course, that science will someday discover some other origin for energy, but for the moment, that particular hole in science leaves plenty of room for God.

So we will assume that God created the energy that became the matter that became everything we see around us. What is He doing now? Some believe the answer to that question lies in the properties of the chaos theory developed by Jules Henri Poincare. A chaotic system is one in which a slight difference in initial conditions may lead to radical differences in outcome. One descriptive example of chaotic behavior can be found in a dripping water faucet. The drops of water do not fall at a constant rate. Thus any long-term predictions as to the timing of the drops are impossible. Chaotic systems make up a good portion of the human experience. Chaotic behavior is found in measles outbreaks, electrical brain activity, lasers, fluids, the weather, the stock market, the structure of many objects found in nature, our capillaries, and river systems. For example, American meteorologist Edward Lorenz discovered by using computer models that the weather is very sensitive to initial conditions. Thus, long-term prediciton of the weather is not possible. Poincare even concluded that our universe as a whole is not as predictable as we like to think.

The discovery of chaotic behavior in the natural world implies that our world is not just one of being; our world is "a world of true becoming." John Polkinghorne, a physicist at Cambridge University, says, "It could be that God selects which possibility becomes a reality." Some have also used chaos theory to explain the presence of evil and suffering in our world. God did not draw these kinds of things into the blueprint. He simply allowed the world to develop as it would.

If God allowed the world to develop as it would, did He also allow the different species to develop as they would? Even if we assume that evolution does occur, does this necessarily negate the possibility that God is an active part of our world? No. John F. Haught, professor of theology at Georgetown University maintains that the idea of evolution is in keeping with the Christian idea of God. He points out, "Love by its very nature cannot compel." If God is the loving God that Christians believe in, he would have allowed our world to develop (at least to a certain extent) on its own. Even Saint Thomas Aquinas said that it is "theologically inconceivable" that God would have held the reins so tightly as to keep such things as evolution from occuring.

However, many scientists now say that evolution may not have occurred as Darwin said it did. Biochemist Michael J. Behe finds one major problem with the theory of evolution. He explains, "Cells are simply too complex to have evolved randomly; intelligence was required to produce them." Much like a mousetrap cannot function with only a hammer or spring, a living cell cannot function properly without all its components already in place. Like mousetraps, cells probably could not be assembled according to the Darwinian theory of evolution. You can't catch a mouse with only a platform and then catch a few more by adding a spring. As of yet, there is no explanation for the origin of these complex systems.

Also, contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence in the fossil record to support the Darwinian theory of evolution. Scientists have found no fossils that can unequivocally be labeled "transitional fossils." Some fossils are assumed to be transitional, but morphologists often point out quite significant differences in physiology between fossil A and fossil B. If fact, biologist David B. Kitts states that, "The fossil record doesn't even provide any evidence in support of Darwinian theory except in the weak sense that the fossil record is compatible with it, just as it is compatible with other evolutionary theories, and revolutionary theories, and special creationist theories, and even ahistorical theories."

So, God may have created the universe. He may still be messing around with it. Evolution may or may not have occurred, and God may or may not have had anything to do with it. Of course, there is also the possibility that further research will show that God had nothing to do with any of these things. All anybody can say at this point is that science has yet to prove that an omnipotent, omniscient God does not exist.