Where do atheists believe the universe cam from?

Question

I am not a creationist but I do believe in a god/creator/source. I cannot get past the point of how enormous and wondrous the universe is and that it had to come from somewhere. Do atheists believe it is just as easy to say it came from no where/always existed than it is to say if had a creator?

What is the predominate belief of atheists when is come to the universe's origin?

Additional Details: This is beyond the "big bang". You could just as well say where did the big bang come from...

Answer 1

As an atheist I don't have an answer to the perplexing question of the origin of the universe. However, I choose not to believe unsubstantiated claims of the origin of the universe. I am comfortable saying that at this point I have no belief at all as to how the universe came to be. Unless there is hard evidence to prove something, I personally file it in the "unanswered" category until a time when I have enough fact to actually answer it. Atheists are not bound together by common beliefs, anyway...only one disbelief ties them together.

Answer 2

There are many theories on the precise origin, but they can't be verified or tested yet, because the math we have stops working before T1, which is one Planck Time unit after the actual Big Bang itself. That's not very long; in fact to call it a microscopic amount of time is an insult to microscopes - it's 1e-43 seconds.

*After* that tiny instant, the math works, and it seems clear that the universe blasted out from an infinitesimal point of absolute density, temperature and pressure. All the matter, time and space unfolded from that point, and has been expanding, cooling and thinning out for 12+billion years since then.

Many of the most interesting events in the history of the universe take place before the first microsecond of time (See the link to the Graphical Timeline of the Big Bang, below), and most of the important stuff is over in under an hour. The universe proceeds through a series of epochs, and after 100,000,000 years, the first stars start to shine. After that it's mostly a matter of gravity interacting with stars to form galaxies, clusters, superclusters etc.

Note that this timeline is not a pile of fanciful guesswork and dreams - every element is the result of huge amounts of calculation and observation, physics, astronomy and astrophysics. Remember that they give prizes, fame and money to people who can correct any errors and find new pieces (though they do have to *prove* what they've found to a lot of smart and hostile experts), so there's a great deal of vested interest in getting it right, and work on the details has been going on for - well, for *ever*, in fact - but the really good stuff started coming out of physics about a century ago.

Your actual question is 'Where did the universe come from?', and this sorta presupposes that, say, at one time there wasn't one, and then later there was. Unfortunately this doesn't really fit the known data: like all the matter, time itself came out of the Big Bang - it *started* at t0 - so you can't talk about 'before' that. Nevertheless, it's fair to say that the Big Bang happened, and to ask what it was. The best one-line answer I ever heard was the Nothing (whatever *that* is: no-time/no-space/no-matter) is actually unstable, and will decay into Something.

Of course, one-liners like that sound like the sort of thing people say when they're trying to explain how the Trinity works, and the fact is that our tools can't get to T0 yet. There's talk about Loop Quantum Gravity providing some solutions, and Brane theory hypothesises that a Big Bang will happen when two branes intersect. There are multiplying reasons to believe that our universe is one of a bubbling, outpouching Multiverse that spawns new ones on a regular basis, each with different fundamental constants. Eventually, someone may come up with an experiment that will allow real observations of one of these things, and it'll become possible to sort the good ideas from the actual reality, but right now Humanity doesn't know 'where' the Singularity that expanded into the universe 'came' 'from' (forgive excessive quote marks, designed to underscore how none of these words may actually have any meaning in this context.)

But we do have a pretty good idea of what happened all the way from a billionth of a microsecond after that, all the way up to the present day - pretty good going, considering that all we can do is look out at all those beautiful lights, catch a few of the basic particles they squirt out, and argue about what it all means.

Watch that space.

CD

Answer 3

the universe is here because it always has been, and it always will be. it has changed, and it will change again. when the universe exhausts all available fuel, only elemental particles will remain. the few atoms left, will be the size of large galaxies. then whatever force brought this stuff together last time, will do it again. a philospher once said, "I think, therefore I am". Doesn't that apply to anything that exists? and why don't creationists understand the concept of infinity? they will agree that there is no end, but will not agree that there has never been a beginning, when in fact, that is exactly what infinity means.

Answer 4

This question can only be asked by a human. That is just how our brain works.

In physics, there are "virtual particles". These are particles which exists for only for a short time so over time it does not violate the principle of conservation of mass and energy. It comes into being and then it vanishes. Does every virtual particle require the intervention of God to make it appear and disappear? Is the universe a gigantic virtual singularity?

Answer 5

I'm an agnostic, and believe it has always existed in some form or another. As you can't create or destroy matter. Lets say it has a creator, who created the creator, God you say, who then created God? If God has always been, then the explanation that the universe has always been is a valid point.

You always can take it one step further.

Answer 6

The predominate belief is that we simply don't know. That doesn't mean we need to fall back on a "god of the gaps" that has no beginning either.

We have known about the "big bang" for about 70 years or fewer. We tried to explain disease for THOUSANDS of years before coming up with bacteria and viruses. All I have to say is that I'm glad that 200 years ago, they all didn't throw their hands up and say "Well, this is too hard, I say it's magic, how about you guys? Let's get a beer:"

Answer 7

Atheism cannot account for the complexity of the universe. Astrophysicist Paul Davies presents a compelling case for not viewing the universe as an accident, even though he refuses to malign his colleagues for not sharing his convictions. See his text The Mind of God. The agnostic scientist Robert Jastrow also expressed his belief that the universe had a beginning which comports with Genesis 1:1. The evidence from modern science is that the universe had a beginning. The question is how it began. Atheism suggests that we are in a boat headed nowhere.

Answer 8

that's an exceedingly consumer-friendly cognitive mistake to work out something stunning and huge and think of it is going to've come from someplace... that's purely how we tend to work out purpose and layout in inanimate products (that's why we regularly get offended at our desktops in the event that they crash). It grew to become into useful to our survival yet now it supplies lots of issues and obstacles for many individuals to comprehend how the universe somewhat works. the genuine answer is that we don't comprehend - no one is familiar with for specific. the place did the huge bang come from? an determination universe? the place did those layers of universes and positively the multiverse itself come from? Why does count exist in any respect? All all of us comprehend is that count and life might desire to exist because of fact we exist right here and are in a position to speak approximately it. besides the fact that "we don't comprehend" is the only straightforward and authentic answer, actual moreso than the non secular determination. to easily shrug and say "god made it" solutions genuinely no longer something and is a very unsatisfying clarification. actually i think of Douglas Adam's widespread satirical "40 two" because of fact the respond for each little thing interior the universe is a much extra compelling and enjoyable clarification than "god made it." =P to flow with yet another Douglas Adam-ism.... isn't it adequate to ask your self on the great element with regard to the backyard with out having to have faith there are fairies on the backside?

Answer 9

I'm an atheist. I believe that the universe is a series of looping, interconnected "dimensions" (more like alternate universes). There are an infinite number of these. The Big Bang was a result of the collapse of another dimension which looped into ours. When the Big Snap occurs (theoretical collapse of the universe as we know it, everything snaps to the middle), we'll just loop through to another dimension and so on and so on. It's a huge cycle, much like the water cycle.

Answer 10

From that initial singularity, looking beyond that is fanciful thinking without proof or evidence. Jumping to the supernatural deity conclusion makes no sense and is using CAVE MAN logic to explain the unknown....