Below is another excerpt from my book, this time from Chapter 5: A Godless Universe. Cosmological discoveries not only explain the origins of the universe, they show the unlikelihood of an ever-present creator who held our existence as important. Read and enjoy!
Our universe, including our sibling galaxies, is a magnificent, awe-inspiring and complicated system. There was once a time when life seemed much more simple, confined, and seemingly purposeful. The sky above ancient people presented mystery and intrigue, just as had other aspects of our biological existence on Earth – our intelligence and psychology, disease and viral infections, and geographical structures. From this mystery came inquiry, and through that inquiry came assumptions founded in the limited plausibility they understood. But ever since the time when God was the most plausible option, scientific thought and exploration has demonstrably proven those archaic beliefs as false. In the past, these hasty speculations were accepted rather quickly amongst these populations because there hadn’t existed differing and testable facts.
I can completely respect their desire for truth, and while I do not accept God as a credible claim, it is expected from such a primitive and unknowing culture. Yet, what fascinates – and aggravates – me is that these foolish ideas have continued to persist while our understanding of science has grown. We no longer need the existence of God to provide the evidence for some of the most trivial questions, as science has answered these once-seemingly insurmountable questions. Today, supporters of religious faith have had to accept certain undeniable scientific facts, and in order for them to properly formulate a defense of such beliefs, the religious have resorted to taking illogical “leaps of faith” to prove their God exists. From where it stands today, most of the theist/atheist discussions almost always end or begin with the creation of the universe in which we dwell.
As one would expect from an unscientific belief, it is to no surprise that the Abrahamic texts display nothing more than fanciful and erroneous interpretation of the visually-captured, alluding to the cultural misunderstanding of physical properties that exist inside and outside of the Earth’s atmosphere. As I’ve suggested and offered as an objective criticism, I would postulate the idea that if God were in fact the author of truth and that the writings he inspired were literal, what has been established throughout the centuries would be an accurate representation of reality as God is the creator of all and the Abrahamic texts would correspondingly agree. However, if God’s word is true, then why would such astronomical claims made in the Christian and Jewish Bible and Qur’an be so obviously false or misrepresented?
Let us begin first with the Christian and Jewish Bible, more particularly the Old Testament. Genesis is the narrative of God’s creation which is believed to have been written by Moses, who is believed by most Christians and Jews to have been the author of much of the rest of the Old Testament. This must be believed by even the mot moderate of followers, because if they admit that their chosen scripture may be nothing more than a product of human fascination without any direct divine instruction, it would suggest the work to be nothing but fiction. Disproving much of the Abrahamic text is one of the most important tasks if the representation of truth is important. Exposing the falsehoods within the “Godly-inspired” texts have become reasonably easy with each and every conflicting scientific discovery – and with that, monotheists will find the driving force behind scientific inquiry to be blasphemous rather than exploratory. This is why I find it so critical to expose the book as nothing more than folkloric literature.
With that being said, the book of Genesis conveys only one simple message: The pursuit of truth works without boundaries, often resulting in a self-created fantasy. So without a scientific perspective, that pursuit can lead one down the wrong path. According to the first chapter of Genesis, God simply willed space and the Earth into existence within a blink of an eye.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” – Genesis 1:1
This sort of statement asserts the claim that all that exists within space including Earth, were created within the same time frame, which is a significantly misleading proposition. Again, simplicity and purpose seem to be the defining characteristics regarding even just the first sentence. Later, it goes on to say that light existed after the creation of Earth which is another factual error.
“And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.” Genesis 1:3-5
“And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.” Genesis 1:14-19
Here, the scripture actually proposes that space was in form, and God quite literally set the sun, moon and stars in place so that the ground on Earth could eventually be habitable for humans. Never mind you that vegetation was put in place before the sun could assist in the photosynthesis process, as I’ve described earlier in this book.
“Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.” Genesis 1:11-13
Now, we understand that the laws of physics allow for all observable and comprehensible matter, so I would suggest that if God exists he then also implemented the laws that science has identified, and continues to today. Why would the creation process of Earth be any different? Never has it been identified, when the laws of physics weren’t necessary for the goings-on within our universe. These represent the simple understanding from simple-minded people when it wasn’t understood that the sun was extremely vital to vegetative life. Today, people accept what science has told us in this aspect but it still does not extinguish the fact of the matter, which still remains: The book of Genesis is demonstrably and scientifically false in its claim, providing a plausible reason behind refuting the claim of purpose and the claim of creative intent for eternity.
But perhaps the death of the God claim occurs deep in the cosmos, void of human presence and contact; places so incredible that the unbeknownst human couldn’t fathom its intricacy. Such is something I would speculate to be unneeded if we were, in fact, the reason why all of this even exists to begin with. Muslims also believed this world, all space and matter, was created with intention; implying the need for an intelligent creator.
The Qur’anic scripture also portrays the same kinds of cosmological inaccuracies as the Bible – and at often times laughably absurd. The Qur’an describes the Sun setting as though it is being lowered into murky water.
“Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it set in a spring of murky water: Near it he found a People: We said: ‘O Zul-qarnain! (thou hast authority,) either to punish them, or to treat them with kindness.’” Qur’an 18:86
Perhaps this was because during hot nights set in a flat and dry landscape, the mirage effect takes place. This effect gives one the illusion that water may be present in the distance and that the sun is “disappearing” down beneath the “water.” The sunset also deceived those who first observed it, forcing them to unknowingly assume that the Earth was in a fixed position as we cannot feel ourselves rocketing through space while revolving around the Sun.
“It is God who made for you the earth a fixed place and heaven for an edifice; And He shaped you, and shaped you well, and provided you with the good things. That then is God, your Lord, so blessed be God, the Lord of all Being.” Qur’an 40:64
And like the Bible, the Qur’an tells that the Earth was created first and space, stars, and the moon were created secondly. Is it not ironic that God’s knowledge is only extendable as far as what was scientifically comprehensible during the Bronze Age?
“He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth. Then turned He to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens. And He is knower of all things.” Qur’an 2:29
A commonality among most creation myths is that the Earth, understood as a suspended surface, must have been placed on a foundation because they may have understood the earth as a structure, much like the structures about which they were knowledgeable, and such structures beacon a foundation. As the Qur’an describes, these pillars can only be seen by Allah himself.
“Allah is He Who raised the heavens without any pillars that ye can see.” Qur’an 13:2
The way it was imagined 3,500 or so years ago was correct and thorough, though only according to their comprehension. They could identify sources of light, both during night and day. Yet, God had failed to convey the simple fact that the moon does not project its own light, only radiating the light from the sun on the opposite side of the planet. One could say that these sorts of discrepancies are something an intelligent creator wouldn’t have narrated.
Let us pretend that the Biblical and Qur’anic accounts are accurate and thorough in reality, but the scientific findings of today are also of reality. What would that suggest? There is only one of two options: The Genesis account and subsequent Qur’anic scripture is accurate and the scientific findings are meant as a deceptive circumstance to test ones faith, or the Genesis account and subsequent Qur’anic scripture is false and now-irrelevant and the modern scientific understandings are the most factually-based conclusion one could reach. If this creator was so smart to have created every cosmological body, event, or phenomenon, why would he then misinform his liaison, Moses, in regards to its conception? The answer is precise: Man may have only created God, but a God most certainly hadn’t created the cosmos.
Science cannot definitively verify the claim of God, since his existence hasn’t been scientifically determined. But what science has done, quite efficiently, is expose primal religious belief and determine where the line between actuality and folklore ought to be drawn. Aside from the theory of the big bang, most every cosmological finding has yet to be tested by the religious right, which is opposite to the anti-evolution movement in America and various other countries. Though the nature of space itself displays just as much intrigue and discovery as evolutionary sciences, rarely does one witness such an ardent push-back from the faith-based fundamentalists against space exploration throughout the world. Naturally, there have been young earth creationists who’ve posited atrocious scientific claims in order to prove the accuracy of the Bible, and unsurprisingly their viewpoints are regarded as unsubstantiated, as they ought to be. Generally speaking, the issue is rarely argued from the common monotheist, who have been too busy halting the civil rights of women and the members of the LGBT community.
But why is this? It may be because most of the scientific evidence in regards to any cosmological finding can not be observed by the human eye, so the monotheists may be unable to draw their own conclusions. The science behind cosmology, which involves a hefty knowledge of physics, could be awfully confusing and intimidating to an individual without the appropriate schooling, and particularly in the case of the monotheist who may have already decided upon a conclusion before assessing information. Of course, theological-based universities churn out college graduates with equivalent experience as graduates from government-funded universities but their approach is what divides the two: one assesses the information and develops an understanding, while the other believes to understand the cause and identifies the evidence for such. Of the two, the answer as to which one is which ought to appear glaringly. As I presented previously, religion does something so important to an individual: It gives someone a sense of importance in a life wrought with pain, agony, and suffering.
The Bible, Qur’an, and other religious doctrine certainly present the notion that we, in fact, are the most important living beings and that this world and universe is ours for the reaping, finely tuned for our exploitation. As long as this type of disinformation continues to swell from the faith-based, this assumption will persist. I have come to believe that perhaps our psychology may prevent this sort of maturity at a grander scale, but it isn’t an impossible destination. It is a matter of perspective, because if you wish to place your emotional well-being before factual evidence then that individual may never experience the wonder offered from the sky above. I find it humbling that my purpose in life is what I make of it, and the reason why I’m here is a miracle, not in a metaphysical sense but because of the sheer odds that were trumped in order for my presence to exist.
This is often forgotten by monotheists as this perspective is eradicated by their belief in God. If the monotheist may decide to face this perspective head on, perhaps they ought to compare their lives with the amount of chaos and disorder found on Earth as well as space, suggesting the nonexistence of an all-encompassing motive or purpose. We humans all live under the same sky, and what exists far past the most outer layer of our galaxy only suggest that the monotheists selfishly-manifested delusion of importance may not be as factual as they wish to believe.
Please visit Amazon to buy “Improbable: Is There Any Reason To Believe In God?”
Joshua Brucker 