How do atheists explain the origin of the universe?

Question

How do atheists explain the origin of the universe (not just the earth and our solar system), and if your answer is "through science," how does science explain how you can get something from nothing?

Please, no atheist or religion bashing!

The first answer by Nicholas H is confounding physical reality with a system of mathematical numbers.

The second "answer" by josefiend is a question, and whether rhetorical or not has nothing to do with my question.

The "big bang" theory says absolutely nothing about where the swirling gases came from. I asked specifically, if you were going to make claims about science to explain how science has demonstrated you can get matter from nothing.

Why are so many people asking me who created God? Did I identify myself as a "true believer"? The question is NOT where did God come from.

IF "They say bacteria went through evolution and made a hole that eventually became the Big Bang," then WHERE DID THE BACTERIA COME FROM??

Best answer thus far by Gary below, but I have to admit I can see so far most atheists like to say "big bang" created the universe, which doesn't explain where the matter and energy came from.

Okay here's the politically correct answer from below: God created the big bang (!) Yes yes, try convincing atheists that one! Read my question!

I didn't ask :What is the origin of the universe" I asked "How do atheists explain the origin of the niverse, and if you use science [i.e., big bang] how does science demonstrate you can get matter from absolutely NOTHING ?

Another one:

"Every thing in existence now was always in existence only it was just in a different form. Compressed into a tight ball of energy.."

WHERE DID THE MATTER, GASES, OR ENERGY COME FROM ???

It seems if not "big bang" the answer is "I don't know." I guess "I don't know" is more scientific than saying "god." \\

There are a lot of atheists out there. Thanks for trying to answer my Question. It was a BIG BANG.

May be the wrong category (religion and spirituality vs. science). Sorry I had to narrow it down. Maybe should have put this under politics.

: )

Answer 1

Of course the not very well educted Evolutionist will use a 2 word explanation....Big bang....
.....without really understanding you cannot have a big bang from nothing previously in existence....there sSTILL must have been a quantum vacuum loaded with energy before such an assumed occurance.

(I have a background in post grad. astronomy/ physics)....so i can tell you such pat answers is total ignorance and doesn't address the origin of mass/ energy.

Answer 2

You know as an Atheists I have never tried to explain the existence of the universe. I leave that up to science. But now that you ask I have learned a little about the Big Bang Theory. It seams that every thing did not come from nothing. Every thing in existence now was always in existence only it was just in a different form. Compressed into a tight ball of energy no larger than well science speculate on the size of it some say the size of a golf ball then others say a marble it could have been the size of a base ball or even a basket ball and all this energy was pulling it tighter and tighter into a small lump. then suddenly the pressure was too great suddenly billions of years ago it exploded into what is now the still expanding universe. I believe that is about the gist of it. You would need to study a little science to discover all the evidence that this occurred but they do have tons of evidence for the Big Bang Theory. I love to just marvel at the Hubble Telescope pictures myself they are marvelous it makes you wonder what hath God rout.

Answer 3

First of all, Atheists are not the arbiters of scientific knowledge, although atheists (as well as theists) can be scientists.

As for science, there is no theory for the physics of the known universe prior to the instant just after the Big Band (which can still be seen and heard).

So, the answer is – you address the question to the wrong audience, however it does not really matter because the answer is the same for all people everywhere, we do not know.

Anyone who claims otherwise is either ignorant of the evidence or dishonest.

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BePositiv... --

What is the basis for your evaluation of science and scientists?

It is obvious that you have no education in science, and yet you seem confident in making definitive statements.

I assume you must at least be aware of your own ignorance, which means that you must know that you are being dishonest in acting like you speak from informed opinion.

Is dishonesty a formal part of your religions doctrine? Conservative Christians / Creationists treat the truth as if it were a contagious disease that they are afraid to get anywhere near. Why is that?

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Alien51 --

Atheism is not a set of beliefs. It simply means without God. It has nothing to do any other beliefs a person may have.

Why is that so difficult for you to understand? You didn't really look at that dictionary very carefully, did you?

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Gary –

What did you do, sweep up the mirror shavings after they were ground?

No real scientist would use the term ‘evolutionist’. No knowledgeable person, even the most nano-whatever focused physicist, would make a statement suggesting that a majority of bio-life-psych-social scientists thought the Big Bang was a big something from a big nothing.

The only thing that seems certain is your ignorance of every science dealing with the geophysical and biological history and dynamics of planet earth.

Answer 4

Atheism is not a religion and therefore not all atheists believe in the same thing. It's like asking everyone with brown eyes how they think the universe was created - there will be many different beleifs.
Personally I believe in the scientific theory of how the universe came to exist. You asked, "how does science explain something from nothing?" Well, we haven't got all the answers - YET. And we don't try and make up stories to answer questions that we cannot yet answer with science.
We make theories, we test them and we find out if they are true or not. We don't have the technology to test every possible theory yet.
So in answer, We Don't Know.

Answer 5

Since neither the Big Bang theory nor the theory of evolution have been conclusively proved—nor can they ever be proved—the "scientists" who adhere to such theories are not scientists at all: they're atheistic fools. Such fools misuse their intelligence to direct human society away from the path of God consciousness. To explain the origin of the universe, these scientists put forward such ideas as the Big Bang theory, as if it were more scientific to believe that an explosion rather than a supremely powerful person has created the universe. And to explain the origin of life and complex living forms, these scientists rely on the neo-Darwinian theory of evolution, which states that life is a product of matter and that complex biological form has developed by "natural selection," or, in other words, by chance. The theory of evolution directly opposes the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita and other Vedic literatures, which emphatically state that life, or consciousness, is not a product of matter but a symptom of the eternal soul and that all form, complex or simple, has been created by God.

Answer 6

Well, there are many different theories floating around out there. The Big Bang is certainly one of them, but definitely not the only one. Some people believe that the universe has always existed, some believe that we aren't even living in the universe, and that it is all a hallucination. There really isn't one agreed upon answer.

Answer 7

Science has stated the big bang is when everything was created, needs more time into it to prove it. Science has proven so many things which is why they have good credibility. Science will need more time because they are attacking a big question that they try to prove. Besides how to christians prove the origins of anything if you ask this. They say that everything was made from nothing to something by god. Answer that first.

Answer 8

I personally believe that the universe always existed and always will. I think the Big Bang theory might explain how a small portion of the universe was formed, but not everything. The reasoning for my belief is simple: I cannot fathom the universe (which invluded everything in existence) consisting of a microscopic spec. How did the spec get there and what caused it to explode? One might say that God caused it, but then you'd have to believe that something can exist outside the universe and I don't.

Answer 9

Obviously, they say the Big Bang theory is how it happened, but I might also say the same. I am a Christian, but my thinking is......What if God used the "Big Bang" method to create the universe and everything in it? It took God a week to create the world......But in Hebrew, I'm pretty sure the word "week" just means '7'. That doesn't mean 7-24 hour periods or any specific amount of time.....What if God created everything in 7 milliseconds and BANG, we have a universe. This supports both the theories of God and the Big Bang theory.

Answer 10

Big Bang Theory, currently accepted explanation of the beginning of the universe. The big bang theory proposes that the universe was once extremely compact, dense, and hot. Some original event, a cosmic explosion called the big bang, occurred about 13.7 billion years ago, and the universe has since been expanding and cooling.

doesn't say anything about getting something from nothing.