Why would the existence of God undermine all the great work thats ever been done in Science?

Question

Science has brought us many incredible discoveries and some of the great scientists have changed world history.

But why do many scientists presume the existence of God would undermine all that great work? There's no doubt that in many cases the words God (and even moreso Jesus) gets many scientists all prickly. Does this extend to the diety of the other world religions?

This question has nothing to do with religious wars or persecution - forget for a moment all the various religious groups and how they may fall short of their own doctrines and how they might have done unspeakable acts in the names of their gods.

The question is to do with a deity - any deity - not necessarily a Christian one.

Why is the idea of such a phenomenon so difficult for many scientists to accept?

I'm trying to ask a sincere question here. It's very likely u r more intellectual than I am - but please treat my ? with respect. Its easy to bash or ridicule other ppl. So please resist. Thank you

thanks for all your answers. plenty of food for thought and lots I agree/disagree with. One thing I would say is there seems to be a view that a God might somehow intervene with the true order of things for whatever reason. But my view is that God has set the rules and laws of physics and everything in motion & wont change it. That's why he "allows bad things to happen to good people" or why hurricanes can strike churches or why natural disasters can kill "god-fearing" people.

Anyway thanks again for all your sensible answers (first one apart) and helping make sense of this. Maybe I'll now post the question on one of the Religious pages in Answers.

Answer 1

It doesn't. Extremists on both sides try to create conflict here, but the fact is that most people's religion doesn't conflict with science. Many scientists are religious.

Nothing in science says there was not a Creator, one who watches over us today. It just says that, if there was a Creator, he started the process 13 billion years ago with a Bang. And that evolution was a part of the design.

Richard Dawkins is a scientific extremist. And very harmful to science. He's a smart man. He knows that nothing in science proves scientifically there is no Creator. He knows the harm to science that WILL happen if you demand that people choose (unnecessarily) between science and religion. And he goes ahead and does just that. It's incredibly stupid, in so many ways.

Answer 2

I guess one reason would be, that Science is ever changing!
On day they tell you something is good for you then 5 years later they are telling you it's not good and so on.

Science has taken a gift and used it against it's creator.
Science doesn't always tell the truth based on the one truth which could answer the unexplained question's so, they keep digging until they come up with something that sounds logical and sell it to the public as a sure thing! Then once again, later find another reason because their first one was incorrect. People keep buying into this and are so forgiving to these mistakes because they too want to believe that there is no way there could actually be something greater than Human beings.
Scientist get all prickly because, if God is the answer then the aren't the smartest or the Gods of this world.
I do find science interesting but, I think it's even more miraculous that God gave us these things here on earth and in space to research and he created it so perfectly for us to be so inquisitive about. Still we learn something new about the vast universe and give God no thanks for putting it there for us to learn about.
Lastly, Money. If god is the answer then they get no funding to do the research. I guess that what some would think. It wouldn't be true but I think this is what it is.

Answer 3

It isn't so much the existence of a god that upsets some scientists, but more the concept that there is no "order" in the way things are, as if to say "don't try to analyse how something works, as it was just made up by God" etc.

A lot of scientists want to be able to "prove" why something is, the way it works, it's genetic make-up etc, so they do not agree or believe in the concept of "magic", "miracles" or anything that cannot be explained by science.

Over time there will be less religious people as science starts to unravel some of the universe's "mysteries". However, there will always be religion and there will always be controversy - that is the human way!

Answer 4

Your basic assertion is fatally flawed. More scientists that I have met have no problem reconciling the idea of a god with science than do humanities or arts experts.

However, where scientists do get prickly is where people assert things must be true because of their relious belief or religious texts. In this case, science definitely trumps religion because it is based on observation. So what the religious are really saying is "believe what I say, not what you see".

This is doublethink and nonsense.

A good example is the biblical description of creation, which if taken literally disagrees with every scientific observation ever made. Yet people cling to it. This is pathetic behaviour.

Answer 5

If you look throughout history, religion evolved as well as the thinking of the people. During the scientific revolution, Copernicus believed that the earth and other planets revolve around the son. Scholars and Clergy would reject his theory because it contradicted their religious views. The Catholic Church during this time taught that God made it so that all stars and planets revolve around the planet. Today it is evident that the planets and earth revolve around the sun.
The reason science views religion as a dangerous enemy, is because it inhibits and prevents all scientific discovery. Some scientists would go as far as to believe that religion is a feeble excuse to explain the unexplained. For an example, how did life begin on earth? People up to this day don't know how to answer this, and they think it's simply easier to think God (any religion) created us and put us down.

Answer 6

Thank you for the respectful question.

If I were a scientist, I wouldn't feel that God was undermining all my great work. I would just be upset when people tried to give God all the credit for my findings, or if they used God to tell me that all my research was made up or wrong.

God and Jesus get scientists prickly semantically because of there repeated association in religious people denying scientific fact. The supernatural can never be included in scientific processes because it cannot be observed and if you ascribe supernatural causes, it ends any further investigation. I think scientists are just frustrated with "God and Jesus" arguments because of the current culture of harrassment that they have to endure.

Answer 7

Human nature wants everything clearly explained.
Yet somethings are beyond explanation.

So science insists that given enough time and resources
anything can be explained.

Thinking outside the box has lead to many scientific discoveries

At the same time This could explain God and all his might
and power.

Sometimes things are so simple that people refuse to
understand it at that level and want it explained
beyond any doubt.

And thats where we are with the science and God debate.

From the smallest cell in our body
to the largest planets and Suns

We are all composed of the same material

what makes us who or what we are is that

lil spark of energy - that science has yet to explain
or bottle to make a profit off of.

That my friend is the lil piece of God in each of us.

Answer 8

Science relies on determinism. If God exists, presumably (!) s/he has free will. That doesn't fit into the scientific world view, and MIGHT destroy the fabric of mechanism (as is its wont). Scientists don't like uncontrollable situations, since they are unable to predict outcomes. And before anyone starts ranting, I'm a chemical engineer and an agnostic. Merry Christmas.

Answer 9

I don't think it would, and neither do most scientists believe that it would. The majority of scientists, like the majority of people generally, are theists - that is, they believe in the existence of some form of God.

However, in order to actually do science, they have to practise 'methodological naturalism' - that is, they assume that everything we observe can be explained by natural causes. To emphasise, this doesn't mean that they don't believe the 'natural' is all that exists (which would be 'philosophical naturalism'), but is a working assumption that the natural is all that can be explained by science.

If, after all, God does exist and is all-powerful, he can step in at any point and alter the results of an experiment. This would make science impossible - so in order to make any progress at all, scientists assume that that isn't going to happen.

Answer 10

Scientists question the world around them and look for evidence and facts to support their theories. Religion instead looks at ancient scriptures. The notion of a God doesnt undermind Science, it's mrerly a safety blanket or knee-jerk answer to explain what is not yet explainable for people who are not happy to question the world around them and would rather live under a false delusion.

To imply there is a God shows someone isn't able to build their knowledge of the world through facts and evidence. Simply answering every question 'God did it' or 'God created this' or 'It does this because God said it should' diverts the question from being answered laterally or using rational thought.

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins may be the best book you ever read on this subject.