Can Scientific Research Demonstrate
the Existence of God?
By Daniel Holt
Many Scientists are Motivated by their Belief
in God
• Psalm 111:2 Written Above the door of Cavendish Physics labs,
Cambridge
• Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight
in them
• ‘Is Science Showing there Really is a God?’ Wall Street Journal
• When we look for God in Nature will we ever find Him?
Nature is Cruel
• In the God Delusion one of the arguments used is the fact that Nature
is cruel
• Stephen Fry’s Rant at the Pearly Gates
"I’ll say: bone cancer in children, what’s that about?”
• David Attenborough has said something similar “are you saying that
God created this worm that can live in no other way than in an
innocent child’s eyeball? Because that doesn’t seem to me to coincide
with a God who's full of mercy.”
• CS Lewis was against using Nature as an argument, leading to
‘grounds for thinking that the proofs of our religion are very weak’
Leading to the Problem of Suffering
• On a similar route many look at Evolution as a process founded upon
death and extinction to create new species
• We descend quickly into the root of suffering
• I definitely don’t have time to answer that
• It’s clear for us, the world is not as God intended it
• What about situations where people have no control?
• Can the Natural world be judged as cruel?
Nature is Intentional
• The Fine Tuning of the Universe
• If 6 dimensionless constants slightly altered there
would be no stars
Anthropic Principle
• The counter argument has been
used against Fine tuning
• Douglas Adams: ‘Imagine a puddle
waking up one morning and
thinking, ‘This is an interesting
world I find myself in — an
interesting hole I find myself in —
fits me rather neatly, doesn’t it?’
• But what if there is only one
puddle?
More Robust Approach
• The Physics Lecture where we broke Quantum Mechanics
• Science is constantly changing with each new discovery
• do we categorise every new result?
Different Questions are Answered
• It seems far safer to state that Science and Faith answer totally
different questions and that you will not find God in Science
• It’s been said many times before that Science Answers How? Faith
answers Why?
• The difference between an agent and a mechanism
Conclusion
• Not the strongest argument for the defence of our faith
• The Interpretations of different discoveries are often subjective
• What did I learn about the situation with my Aunt and the Flowers?
• Who we are and our testimony are powerful persuasions
• See God in your research everyday
• Maybe Science can’t confidently show there really is a God, but God
can certainly use Scientists to show He is there.