Can scientists believe in God

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Can scientists believe in God?
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What Americans Believe
I believe in creation
48
I believe in evolution
28
I believe in the devil
68
Gallup Poll March, 2003
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Creation
A designing intelligence, commonly called god,
brought the universe, the major life forms and
man into existence in specific creative acts.
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Evolutionism
The universe and all that is in it is a product
of the random application of presently operating
natural law.
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Although many details remain to be worked out, it
is already evident that all objective phenomena
of the history of life can be explained by purely
naturalistic factors.
They are readily explicable on the basis of
differential reproduction in populations, and the
mainly random interplay of the known processes of
heredity.
Therefore, man is the result of a purposeless
and natural process that did not have him in
mind. G. Simpson, Meaning of Evolution, p. 345
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Although many details remain to be worked out, it
is already evident that all objective phenomena
of the history of life can be explained by purely
naturalistic factors.
They are readily explicable on the basis of
differential reproduction in populations, and the
mainly random interplay of the known processes of
heredity.
Therefore, man is the result of a purposeless
and natural process that did not have him in
mind. G. Simpson, Meaning of Evolution, p. 345
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Although many details remain to be worked out, it
is already evident that all objective phenomena
of the history of life can be explained by purely
naturalistic factors.
They are readily explicable on the basis of
differential reproduction in populations, and the
mainly random interplay of the known processes of
heredity.
Therefore, man is the result of a purposeless
and natural process that did not have him in
mind. G. Simpson, Meaning of Evolution, p. 345
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Although many details remain to be worked out, it
is already evident that all objective phenomena
of the history of life can be explained by purely
naturalistic factors.
They are readily explicable on the basis of
differential reproduction in populations, and the
mainly random interplay of the known processes of
heredity.
Therefore, man is the result of a purposeless
and natural process that did not have him in
mind. G. Simpson, Meaning of Evolution, p. 345
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Evolutionism
The universe and all that is in it is a product
of the random application of presently operating
natural law.

• Natural stuff, mass-energy, space-time and
• the laws of nature, is everlasting.

• Life arose naturally from non-life.

• The vast variety of plants and animals
• developed gradually through undirected
• natural causes.

• Humans developed from pre-human species.

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Evolutionism
The universe and all that is in it is a product
of the random application of presently operating
natural law.
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Statements of Evolutionism
By coupling undirected, purposeless variation to
the blind, uncaring process of natural selection,
Darwin made theological or spiritual explanations
of life processes superfluous. Futuyma,
Evolutionary Biology, p. 3
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Statements of Evolutionism
All life is the outcome of an unsupervised,
impersonal, unpredictable, and natural process.
National Association of Biology Teachers
Statement on Teaching Evolution
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Statements of Evolutionism
The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever
will be. Carl Sagan, Cosmos, p. 4
I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God,
"who is and who was and who is to
come. Revelation 18
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to
the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning, is
now and ever will be, world without end. Gloria
Patri
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Statements of Evolutionism
Our willingness to accept scientific claims that
are against common sense is the key to an
understanding of the real struggle between
science and the supernatural. . . .
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Statements of Evolutionism
We take the side of science in spite of the
patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in
spite of its failure to fulfill many of its
extravagant promises of health and life, in spite
of the tolerance of the scientific community for
unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have
a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism.
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Statements of Evolutionism
It is not that the methods and institutions of
science somehow compel us to accept a material
explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the
contrary, that we are forced by our a priori
adherence to material causes to create an
apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts
that produce material explanations, no matter how
counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to
the uninitiated.
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Statements of Evolutionism
Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we
cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door. Richard
Lewontin New York Review of Books Jan 4, 1997
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The Fundamental Question
Will we believe religion or science?
Is this world best explained naturally or
supernaturally?
Is this world best explained by undirected
natural causes or by intelligently directed
causes?
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My Thesis

• This world contains objects and structures that
  transcend the explanatory resources of undirected
  natural cause.

• These objects and structures are adequately
  explained only by intelligently directed causes.

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Four Investigative Questions
1. Did the universe have a ________ ?
2. Did life on earth arise __ _____ ?
3. Where did all the ______ come from?
4. Did _____ ______ come from hominids?
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Four Investigative Questions
1. Did the universe have a beginning ?
2. Did life on earth arise __ _____ ?
3. Where did all the ______ come from?
4. Did _____ ______ come from hominids?
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Four Investigative Questions
1. Did the universe have a beginning ?
2. Did life on earth arise by chance ?
3. Where did all the ______ come from?
4. Did _____ ______ come from hominids?
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Four Investigative Questions
1. Did the universe have a beginning ?
2. Did life on earth arise by chance ?
3. Where did all the animals come from?
4. Did _____ ______ come from hominids?
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Four Investigative Questions
1. Did the universe have a beginning ?
2. Did life on earth arise by chance ?
3. Where did all the animals come from?
4. Did Homo Sapiens come from hominids?
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The Rules of Investigation

• We will appeal only to data commonly accepted
  among scientists.

• No one can appeal to religious or philosophical
  data or principles to establish or refute a
  position.

• The burden of proof is shared equally.

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Did the universe have a beginning?
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Look into Space
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Jupiter
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Jupiter
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Jupiter
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Venus
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Venus
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Saturn
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Saturn
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Saturn
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Mysteries of Space
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Mysteries of Space
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Mysteries of Space
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Constellation Orion
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Orion Nebula
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Mysteries of Space
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Mysteries of Space
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Mysteries of Space
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Mysteries of Space
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Mysteries of Space
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Mysteries of Space
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Mysteries of Space
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Mysteries of Space
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Mysteries of Space
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Mysteries of Space
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Galaxies in time
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Empty space
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Expanding Universe
1925-1930 Edwin Hubble discovered that all
galaxies are moving away from us.
This suggests that the universe is expanding.
This suggests a singular event--that at some time
in the distant past the universe began expanding
from an extremely small size.
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Inflationary Big Bang
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Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
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In the Beginning
13.7 Billion years
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1 trillionth of a second
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The Big Bang
The Big Bang hypothesis has been widely accepted
by physicists. Because of its explanatory power,
it has won out over the steady state and
oscillating universe theories.
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Expanding Universe
The universe had a beginning.
Philosophically, the notion of an abrupt
beginning to the present order of Nature is
repugnant to me, as I think it must be to most.
Arthur Eddington
The German physicist Walter Nernst complained
that "to deny the infinite duration of time would
be to betray the very foundations of science."
Science followed the data where it seemed to
lead, even though the model felt awfully
religious.
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Did the universe have a beginning?
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It did!
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What begun it??
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Did life on earth arise by chance?
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H2O
H2
NH3
CH4
Gases
Spark
Condenser
H2O
Amino Acids
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H2O
H2
N2
CO2
Volcanic Gases
Spark
Condenser
H2O
Glycine (only)
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H2O
H2
N2
CO2
Volcanic Gases
Spark
Condenser
H2O
No Amino Acids
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Information Theory
Information in a system invariably indicates
intelligence at work.
A single human cell has as much information as
the thirty volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica
three or four times over.
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Fundamental Principle of Biology
Life never comes from non-life
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The Presence of Faith
"When it comes to the origin of life, we have
only two possibilities as to how life arose. One
is spontaneous generation arising to evolution
the other is a supernatural creative act of God.
there is no third possibility...Spontaneous
generation was scientifically disproved one
hundred years ago by Louis Pasteur, Spellanzani,
Reddy and others.
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The Presence of Faith
That leads us scientifically to only one possible
conclusion -- that life arose as a supernatural
creative act of God...I will not accept that
philosophically because I do not want to believe
in God. Therefore, I choose to believe in that
which I know is scientifically impossible,
spontaneous generation arising to evolution." Dr.
George Wald -- Professor of Biology/Harvard
University Recipient of the 1967 Nobel Prize in
Medicine Scientific American, August, 1954
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Did life on earth arise by chance?
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Not a chance!
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Where did all the animals come from?
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Darwins Limit
If it could be demonstrated that any complex
organ existed which could not possibly have been
formed by numerous, successive, slight
modifications, my theory would absolutely break
down. Darwin, Evolution of Species, p. 154
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Darwins Tree of Life
The kinds of animals come from gradual
accumulation of micro-mutations through
undirected natural selection.
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Fossil Record

• New kinds appear suddenly.

• There is variation, but only within kinds.

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Cambrian Explosion
When Life Exploded
For billions of years, simple creatures like
plankton, bacteria, and algae ruled the earth.
Then, suddenly, life got very complicated.
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Cambrian Explosion
Burst of Creativity
of multi-cellular animals -- the ancestors of
virtually all creatures that now swim, fly or
crawl through the world.
At the beginning of the Cambrian period, in a
burst of creativity, lasting no longer than 10
million years, nature produced an astonishing
array
Where did they all come from?
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Cambrian Explosion
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When Life Exploded
For billions of years, simple creatures like
plankton, bacteria, and algae ruled the earth.
Then, suddenly, life got very complicated.
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Burst of Creativity
At the beginning of the Cambrian period, in a
burst of creativity, lasting no longer than 10
million years, nature produced an astonishing
array of multi-cellular animals -- the ancestors
of virtually all creatures that now swim, fly or
crawl through the world.
Where did they all come from?
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Cambrian Explosion Update
Around 540 million years ago, approximately 50 to
80 of all animal phyla to ever exist appeared
explosively over a short period of time (less
than 5 million years in duration).
February, 2006
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Peppered Moths before the Industrial Revolution
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Peppered Moths after the Industrial Revolution
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Peppered Moths Living in the leaves
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Irreducible Complexity
A system composed of several interacting parts
that contribute to the basic function. If any
part is missing, the system doesnt function.
An irreducibly complex system cannot be produced
gradually by slight modifications of a precursor
system, since any precursor is nonfunctional.
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Irreducible Complexity
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Irreducible Complexity
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Conclusion

• Kinds of plants and animals appear as irreducibly
  complex systems, suddenly, fully formed and
  stable.

• There is subsequent variation but only within
  kinds.

• Evolutionism (neo-Darwinian naturalism) cannot
  explain this.

• Creation explains it easily.

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Where did all the animals come from?
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From a creator!
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Did humans come from pre-human species?
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Key Facts about Homo Sapiens

• All women/men come from one woman/man.

• Homo Sapiens appear at most a few tens of
  thousands of years ago.

• Homo Sapiens are genetically unconnected to
  hominoids.

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Homo Sapiens and Pre-Human Beings
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Can scientists believe in God?
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How can scientists NOT believe in God?
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