Does Science Make Belief in God Obsolete?: Not Necessarily

Does science make belief in God obsolete?
Not necessarily. She must run the world lawfully and unto the
letter, closely following the Book of Nature.
But you must find a science- A scientific Creator should certainly know an
friendly, science-compatible awful lot of science. To differentiate between the
God. First, try the pantheon of countless universes offered by superstring theory
available Creators. Inspect is a headache. Fine-tuning chemistry to generate
thoroughly. If none fits the bill, complex proteins, and then initiating a cascade of
invent one. mutations that turn microbe to man, is also no
The God of your choice must be trivial matter. But bear in mind that there are
Pervez Amirali
a stickler for divine principles. definite limits to divine knowledge: God can
Hoodbhoy
Science does not take kindly to know only the knowable. Omniscience and
a deity who, if piqued or euphoric, sets aside science do not go well with each other.
seismological or cosmological principles and The difficulty with omniscienceeven with
causes the moon to shiver, the earth to split regard to a particle as humble as the electron
asunder, or the universe to suddenly reverse its has been recognized as an issue since the 1920s.
expansion. This God must, among other things, be Subatomic particles show a vexing, subtle
stoically indifferent to supplications for changing elusiveness that defeats even the most sophisti-
local meteorological conditions, the task having cated effort to measure certain of their properties.
already been assigned to the discipline of fluid Unpredictability is intrinsic to quantum mechan-
dynamics. Therefore, indigenous peoples, even if ics, the branch of physics which all particles are
they dance with great energy around totem poles, empirically seen to obey. This discovery so
shall not cause even a drop of rain to fall on disturbed Albert Einstein that he rejected
parched soil. Your rule-abiding and science- quantum mechanics, pronouncing that God
respecting God equally well dispenses with tearful could not play dice with the universe. But it
Christians singing the Book of Job, pious Hindus turned out that Einsteins objections were
feverishly reciting the havan yajna, or earnest flaweduncertainty is deeply fundamental.
Muslims performing the salat-i-istisqa as they Thus, any science-abiding deity we choose may
face the Holy Kaaba. The equations of fluid flow, be incompletely informed on at least some
not the number of earnest supplicants or quality aspects of nature.
of their prayers, determine weather outcomes.
This is slightly unfortunate because one could Is one being excessively audacious, perhaps
imagine joining the faithful of all religions in a impertinent, in setting down terms of reference
huge simultaneous global prayer that wipes away for a Divine entity? Not really. Humans have
the pernicious effects of anthropogenic global always chosen their objects of worship. Smarter
climate change. humans go for smarter Gods. Anthropomorphic
representationssuch as a God with octopus
Your chosen God cannot entertain private armsare a bit out of fashion today but were
petitions for good health and longevity, prevent an enormously popular just a few centuries ago. As
air crash, or send woe upon demand to the enemy. well, some people might object to binding God
Mindful of microbiology and physiology, She and human to the same rules of logic, or perhaps
cannot cure leprosy by dipping the afflicted in even sharing the same space-time manifold. But
rivers or have humans remain in unscathed if we drop this essential demand then little shall
condition after being devoured by a huge fish. remain. Reason and evidence would lose
Faster-than-light travel is also out of the question, meaning and be replaced by tradition, authority,
even for prophets and special messengers. Instead, and revelation. It would then be wrong for us to
(continued)
have 2 + 2 = 5, but okay for God. Centuries of for a science-savvy God to use nonlinear dynamics
human progress would come to naught. so that tiny fluctuations quickly build up to earth-
Lets face it: the day of the Sky God is long gone. shaking resultsthe famous butterfly effect of
In the Age of Science, religion has been down- deterministic chaos theory.
sized, and the medieval God of classical religions Nietzsche and the theothanatologists were plain
has lost repute and territory. Today peoplepay lip wrongGod is neither dead nor about to die.
service to trusting that God but they still swallow Even as the divine habitat shrinks before the
antibiotics when sick. Muslim-run airlines start a aggressive encroachment of science, the quantum
plane journey with prayers but ask passengers to foam of space-time creates spare universes aplenty,
buckle-up anyway, and most suspect that people offering space both for a science-friendly God as
who appear to rise miraculously from the dead well as for self-described deeply religious non-
were probably not quite dead to begin with. These believers like Einstein. Many eminent practitioners
days if you hear a voice telling you to sacrifice your of science have successfully persuaded themselves
only son, you would probably report it to the that there is no logical contradiction between
authorities instead of taking the poor lad up a faith and belief by finding a suitable God, or by
mountain. The old trust is disappearing. clothing a traditional God appropriately. Unsure
Nevertheless, there remains the tantalizing of why they happen to exist, humans are likely to
prospect of a divine power somewhere out there scour the heavens forever in search of meaning.
who runs a mysterious, but scrupulously miracle- _____________________________________________________________________________________
free, universe. In this universe, God may choose to Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy is chairman of the department
act in ingenious ways that seem miraculous. Yet of physics at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad,
these miracles need not violate physical laws. Pakistan, and is the author of Islam and Science:
Extraordinary, but legitimate, interventions in the
Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality.
physical world permit quantum tunneling
through cosmic worm holes or certain symmetries
to snap spontaneously. It would be perfectly fair
THIS IS THE THIRD IN A SERIES OF CONVERSATIONS AMONG LEADING SCIENTISTS AND SCHOLARS ABOUT THE BIG QUESTIONS.
For the previous two questions, visit www.templeton.org/bigquestions.

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