God Explains Nothing
In this section we consider the theory that things occurred in the history of the universe because God made them happen. When we agree that something like the big bang or the formation of the stars actually did occur, then what addition explanation do we get from by saying that God did it?
The theory that god made things happen explains nothing about how those things actually happen. It is just more familiar and comforting to think that some person was behind it, and it makes the universe seem more like our experienced lives in our homes.
The Question
Posted to an anti-atheist group was the follow question about five key events in the history of the universe. The original was phrased in a snarky way as strawman arguments to blow over more easily, but I won't reproduce that here. Below are the five arguments presented in a polite rational way:
- ONE: The big bang. How can this occur when there is nothing and result in a complete universe?
- TWO: The formation of stars. How can the floating matter of the universe come together and then ignite the stars and galaxies and planets?
- THREE: The origin of life. How can life come from non life?
- FOUR: The diversity of life. How can mutation and natural selection cause new species to form from older species?
- FIVE: Mind. How can the first mind form when there was no mind before it?
Christians believe in miracles with an adequate cause (God). Atheists believe in miracles without an adequate cause (magic).
The Answer
We agree I believe that all these things occurred. The big bang is NOT anything like an "explosion" and so your intuition around what explosions can do are off, but setting that aside both sides agree that the big bang happened.
Theists and atheists agree that the big bang happened. They agree that stars formed. They agree that at some point life started when there was no other life in the universe. They both agree that millions of different species formed from the original one. And finally we agree that a there was a point in time when the first mind was formed.
Both atheists and theists agree that these amazing and unbelievable things actually happened. The difference is only that the theist looks around their personal life and says: I have never seen anything like any of these happen to me at home in my house. I have never seen it happen so it can't happen except if there is a human-like animator in the sky who then waves a wand to "make it happen". The miracle of the beginning of life is exactly just as miraculous, but theists feel more comfortable saying that person-like entity decided to make it happen. Because in the theist home experience, changes like this only happen when a person does them.
What the theist does is takes their home experience, and says that the universe has to be just like what they experience at home.
How did god make the big bang? We don't know. It is the same miracle whether god did it or not. It is just that theists are more comfortable imagining that a person-like figure made it happen. Because that would be more like their own life.
There is no reason to believe that the starting of any of these things is any more miraculous or any less miraculous just because you imagine a person-like entity "making it happen"
Ancient Misunderstandings
People used to think that lots of things were caused directly by gods:
- Long ago people believed that rain was clearly guided by an intelligent force. Tagbanua is a rain god in Manobo mythology. Indra is the Hindu god of weather, storms, and rain. Chaac is the ancient Maya rain god. They simply couldn't believe that rain was caused by natural forces. They prayed to the rain god, but they were wrong.
- We learned that water evaporates over the oceans and then precipitates out when the conditions are right. It is all explained by natural forces.
- Long ago people believed that lightning was clearly guided by an intelligent force: Thor (Norse mythology), Raijin (Japanese mythology), Indra (Hinduism), Zeus (Greek mythology). Poseidon is the Greek god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses, often associated with the power of the earth and its natural phenomena. They simply couldn't believe that lightning was caused by natural forces. They prayed to the lightening god, but they were wrong.
- We learned that lightning is simple static electricity build up in the clouds that suddenly discharges. It is all explained by natural forces.
- Long ago people believed that earthquakes were clearly guided by an intelligent force. Rūaumoko is the Māori god of earthquakes, volcanoes, and seasons, believed to cause natural disasters through his movements. They simply couldn't believe that earthquakes were caused by natural forces. They prayed to the earth god, but they were wrong.
- We learned that the continents are solid crust floating on a mantle of liquid rock, and that earthquakes are vibrations caused by different plates rubbing against each other. It is all explained by natural forces.
- Long ago people believed that fire was clearly guided by an intelligent force. Hephaestus is the Greek god of fire, metalworking, and craftsmanship. Agni is the Hindu god of fire, considered the mediator between gods and humans. Loki is a Norse god associated with fire, known for his trickster nature. Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes. Ra is the Egyptian sun god, often associated with fire.They simply couldn't believe that fire was caused by natural forces. They prayed to the fire god, but they were wrong.
- We learned that chemical reactions can release energy in a chain reaction governed by the flow of oxygen and combustibles into the region of burning. It is all explained by natural forces.
- Long ago people believed that floods were clearly guided by an intelligent force. The flood god in ancient Egyptian mythology is Hapi. They simply couldn't believe that floods were caused by natural forces. They prayed to the flood god, but they were wrong.
- We learned that seasonal changes in precipitation cause build ups or relatively sudden funneling of water from large areas into restricted regions that flood. It is all explained by natural forces and fluid dynamics.
- Long ago people believed that life was clearly guided by an intelligent force. Osiris is the god of life from Egyptian mythology. Phanes is the god of life in the Orphic cosmogony. Izanagi is the god of life in Japanese mythology. They prayed to the life god, but they were wrong
- We learned that life is an extremely complex system of many chemical reactions we refer to as a metabolism. It is all explained by natural forces.
In every one of the cases above, the idea that a god is needed to produce the phenomena has been discarded. This has come as our understand of the natural world through science has led us to theories that explain it without needing a magical god. That is, the natural world explains it, so we have no need of a supernatural entity to explain it.
Science Replaces Religion
See Science Replaces Religion for a longer list of natural phenomena that used to be thought of as supernatural, and have slowly been replaced by our understanding of real natural phenomena.
Invented Gods
Gods are invented to explain things we don't understand. We have proof that humans have done this in the past. We see other areas that are still popularly seen as coming from god:
- creationists insist that the large variety of species we see on the earth is due to a god stepping in and poofing all the different animals into existence in their final form. They simply can't believe that species evolve by natural forces, mainly because (1) they don't really understand how evolution works, (2) they don't find evolution intuitively true, and (3) it simply is easier to believe in a god than to figure out what really happened.
- creationists further insist that the first instance of life was crafted by an intelligent god. They simply can't believe that a living cell can be the result natural forces. Like evolution, abiogenesis is a very complex topic that is difficult to understand and is not like anything that happens at home on a typical day. It is just easier to believe in a god.
- Theists insist that morals must have been commanded by an intelligent god. They simply can't believe that morality evolved out of millions of years of humans learning to live together successfully.
- Theists insist that the universe must have been created by an intelligent god. They simply can't believe that there might be a natural process that explains how the universe might have started from a single quantum event and then grew into what we see today. It is simpler to believe in god.
Will the god theory hold up as the true theory? Probably not, at least not the stories in the bible.