THE PATH FROM SCIENCE TO GOD

"The necessity to go back to a Supreme Cause is all the greater if one considers the perfect organization which science ceaselessly discovers in the structure of matter. When human intelligence is applied with so much effort to determine the modalities of action of material particles, is it not perhaps indeed to seek their origin in a Superior Intelligence which has conceived the whole? In the face of the marvel of what can be called the immensely small world of the atom, and the immensely great world of the cosmos, the human mind feels itself completely surpassed in its possibilities of creation and even of imagination, and understands that a work of such quality and of such proportions demands a Creator whose wisdom is beyond all measure, and whose power is infinite.

"All the observations concerning the development of life lead to a similar conclusion. The evolution of living beings, of which science seeks to determine the stages and to discern the mechanism, presents an internal finality which arouses admiration. This finality which directs beings in a direction for which they are not responsible or in charge, obliges one to suppose a Mind which is its inventor, its Creator."

Pope John Paul II - General Audience, 10th July 1985

The Author: Fr Roger Nesbitt is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Southwark. He graduated in chemical engineering at Imperial College London and subsequently did research in nuclear chemistry for the Master's degree. After ordination he taught for 14 years at The John Fisher School, Purley,  Surrey, as Head of Religious Education as well as teaching chemistry. He is now parish priest of Folkestone in Kent.

THE PATH FROM SCIENCE TO GOD

by Roger Nesbitt, M.Sc, A.C.G.I., D.I.C.

In a key section of these Outlines Notes, "Science at the Threshold of God" (part 4), it is shown through a mosaic of quotations gleaned from many modern scientists that they are being forced by the sheer weight of the evidence to admit that the Universe revealed by Science is impossible without the Supreme Mind we call God. These Notes show that the modern scientific vision of the Universe can be seen as an organic development in total harmony with, and in fulfilment of, the Teaching of the Catholic Church (part 1), Sacred Scripture (part 2), and the traditional philosophy of the Church as represented by St Thomas Aquinas in his Five Ways (part 3). Finally the concept of "God's Master Key: The Law of Control and Direction" (part 5) provides a synthesis of all this wisdom, ancient and modern. This Master Key, so necessary for the Church at the present time, enables us to ascend from Science to God and ultimately in its later stages to Christ the Logos, through whom, from whom, and in whom the Universe was created. The theme of this pamphlet is continued in a companion publication, "The Path from Science to Jesus Christ" by Fr Edward Holloway.

1. THE TEACHING OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

The Catholic Church has consistently taught that God can be known by the natural light of human reason. This Knowledge is sometimes known as "Natural Theology". The main texts concerning this matter are the following:

From the First Vatican Council (1870):

"Holy Mother Church holds and teaches that God, the origin and end of all things, can be known with certainty by the natural light of human reason from the things that he created; `for since the creation of the world his invisible attributes

are clearly seen, being understood through the things that are made' (Romans 1:20)"

"If anyone says that the One and true God, our Creator and Lord, cannot be known with certainty by the natural light of human reason by means of the things that have been made: let him be anathema."

From the Second Vatican Council (1965):

"The Sacred Council declares that `God, the beginning and end of all things, can certainly be known from created things by the natural light of human reason' (cf. Romans 1:20)." (Constitution on Divine Revelation, 6)

2. SACRED SCRIPTURE

The key text in the New Testament for this doctrine is from St Paul to the Romans: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal dower and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; for although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give honour to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles." (Romans

1:18-23)

It is most probable that St Paul, devout Jew that he was before his conversion, was strongly influenced in his defence of Natural Theology by the following passage from the Book of Wisdom in the Old Testament:

"For all men who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature; and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know Him who exists, nor did they recognise the Craftsman while paying heed to his works. . . If through delight in the beauty of these things men assumed them to be gods, let them know how much better than these is their Lord, for the Author of beauty created them . . . For from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator . . . If they had the power to know so much that they could investigate the world, how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things?" (Wisdom 13: 1-9)

Further Teaching of Sacred Scripture

The Book of Genesis:

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters . . . " (Genesis 1:1-3)

St John develops this teaching in his Gospel Prologue:

"In the beginning was the Word (Logos) and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made." (John 1:1-3)

St John is echoing in his teaching the tradition of the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament. The "Word" (or "Logos" in Greek from which we derive the English "Logic") is the Infinite Wisdom or Intellectual Power of God. All things were made through this Supreme Mind of God . . . which becomes Incarnate in Jesus Christ.

There are many beautiful texts in the Wisdom Literature from which this theme can be developed. They are all capable of development for the modern scientific vision of God and his Creation. The following are a few examples from the Wisdom Literature apart from that already quoted (Wisdom 13:1-9).

The Book of Wisdom:

"May God grant me to speak as he would wish, since he himself is the guide of Wisdom. We are indeed in his hand, we ourselves and our words, with all our understanding too, and technical knowledge. It was he who gave me true knowledge of all that is, who taught me the structure of the world and the properties of the elements, the beginning, end and middle of the times, the alternation of the solstices, and the succession of the seasons, the revolution of the year and the position of the stars, the natures of animals and the instincts of wild beasts, the powers of spirits and the mental processes of men, the varieties of plants and the medical properties of roots. All that is hidden, all that is plain, I have come to know, instructed by Wisdom who designed them all. For within her is a spirit intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, active, incisive, unsullied lucid, invulnerable, beneficent, loving to man, steadfast, dependable, unperturbed, almighty, all-surveying, penetrating all intelligent, pure and most subtle spirits; for Wisdom is quicker to move than any motion; so pure she pervades and permeates all things . . . she deploys her strength from one end of the earth to the other ordering all things for good." (Wisdom 7:15-30)

The Book of Proverbs: Wisdom as Creator

"God created me when his purpose first unfolded, before the oldest of his works. From everlasting I was firmly set, from the beginning before earth came into being. The deep was not, when I was born, there were no springs to gush with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills I came to birth; before he made the earth, the countryside, or the first grains of the world's dust. When he fixed the heavens firm, I was there, when he drew a ring on the surface of the deep, when he thickened the clouds above, when he fixed fast the springs of the deep . . . when he laid the foundations of the earth, I was by his side, delighting him day after day, ever at play in his presence, at play everywhere in his world, delighting to be with the sons of men." (Prov 8:22-31)

The Book of Sirach: The Glory of God in Nature.

"Next, I will remind you of the works of the Lord, and tell of what I have seen. By the words of the Lord his works come into being and all creation obeys his will. As the sun in shining looks on all things, so the work of the Lord is full of his glory . . . He has imposed an order on the magnificent works of his wisdom, he is from everlasting to everlasting . . . How desirable are all his works, how dazzling to the eye! They all live and last forever, whatever the circumstances all obey him. All things go in pairs, by opposites, and he has made nothing defective: the one consolidates the excellence of the other, who could ever be sated with gazing at his glory . . . Thanks to him all things hold together by means of his word. We could say much more and still fall short; to put it concisely, `He is the all'. Where shall we find sufficient power to glorify him, since he is the Great One, above all his works, the awe-inspiring Lord, stupendously great, and wonderful in his power? Many mysteries remain even greater than these, for we have seen only a few of his works, the Lord having made all things - and having given wisdom to devout men." (Ecclesiasticus 42:15 - 43:44 The whole passage should be read - this is only a selection.)

There are many other texts in the Old Testament on this theme of the Wisdom and Power of God in creation - a brief selection: Psalm 104; Isaiah 40:12-26.

3. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS:

FIVE WAYS TO THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

St Thomas, Summa Theologica 1, 2, 3

The existence of God can be proved in five ways.

The first and more manifest way is the argument from motion. It is certain, and evident to our senses, that in the world some things are in motion. Now whatever is moved is moved by another, for nothing can be moved except it is in potentiality to that towards which it is moved; whereas a thing moves in as much as it is in act. For motion is nothing else than the reduction of something from potentiality to actuality. But nothing can be reduced from potentiality to actuality, except by something in a state of actuality. Thus that which is actually hot, as fire, makes wood, which is potentially hot, to be actually hot, and thereby moves and changes it. Now it is not possible that the same thing should be at once in actuality and potentiality in the same respect, but only in different respects. For what is actually hot cannot simultaneously be potentially hot; but it is simultaneously potentially cold. It is therefore impossible that in the same respect and in the same way a thing should be both mover and moved, i.e. that it should move itself. Therefore, whatever is moved must be moved by another. If that by which it is moved be itself moved, then this also must needs be moved by another, and that by another again. But this cannot go on to infinity, because then there would be no first mover, and, consequently, no other mover, seeing that subsequent movers move only in as much as they are moved by the first mover; as the staff moves only because it is moved by the hand. Therefore it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, moved by no other; and this everyone understands to be God.

The second way is from the nature of efficient cause. In the world of sensible things we find there is an order of efficient causes. There is no case known (neither is it, indeed, possible) in which a thing is found to be the efficient cause of itself; for so it would be prior to itself, which is impossible. Now in efficient causes it is not possible to go on to infinity, because in all efficient causes following in order, the first is the cause of the intermediate cause, and the intermediate is the cause of the ultimate cause, whether the intermediate cause be several, or one only. Now to take away the cause is to take away the effect. Therefore, if there be no first cause among efficient causes, there will be no ultimate, nor any intermediate, cause. But if in efficient causes it is possible to go on to infinity, there will be no first efficient cause, neither will there be an ultimate effect, nor any intermediate efficient causes; all of which is plainly false. Therefore it is necessary to admit a first efficient cause, to which everyone gives the name of God.

The third way is taken from possibility and necessity, and runs thus. We find in nature things that are possible to be and not to be, since they are found to be generated, and to be corrupted, and consequently, it is impossible for them to be and not to be. But it is impossible for these always to exist, for that which can not-be at some time is not. Therefore, if anything can not-be, then at one time there was nothing in existence. Now if this were true, even now there would be nothing in existence, because that which does not exist begins to exist only through something already existing. Therefore, if at one time nothing was in existence, it would have been impossible for anything to have begun to exist; and thus even now nothing would be in existence - which is absurd. Therefore, not all beings are merely possible, but there must exist something the existence of which is necessary. But every necessary thing either has its necessity caused by another, or not. Now it is impossible to go on to infinity in necessary things which have their necessity caused by another, as has been already proved in regard to efficient causes. Therefore we cannot but admit the existence of some being having of its own necessity, and not receiving it from another, but rather causing in others their necessity. This all men speak of as God.

The fourth way is taken from the gradation to be found in things. Among beings there are some more and some less good, true, noble, and the like. But more and less are predicated of different things according as they resemble in their different ways something which is the maximum, as a thing is said to be hotter according as it more nearly resembles that which is hottest; so that there is something which is truest, something best, something noblest, and, consequently, something which is most being, for those things that are greatest in truth are greatest in being, as it is written in Metaph, ii. Now the maximum in any genus is the cause of all in that genus, as fire, which is the maximum of heat, is the cause of all hot things, as is said in the same book. Therefore there must be something which is to all beings the cause of their being, goodness, and every other perfection; and this we call God.

The fifth way is taken from the governance of the world. We see that things which lack knowledge, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting always, or nearly always, in the same way, so as to obtain the best result. Hence it is plain that they achieve their end, not fortuitously, but designedly. Now whatever lacks knowledge cannot move towards an end, unless it be directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence; as the arrow is directed by the archer. Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God.

4. SCIENCE AT THE THRESHOLD OF GOD

The New Physics seeks the Law of Control and Direction The following quotations are taken from the writings of several modern scientists, most of them writing in the 1980's. For presentation purposes detailed references have been omitted. The letters after each name refer to their books which are listed at the end under Further Reading. Thus CC, after Stanley Jaki, refers to his book "Cosmos and Creator". Even though admittedly they are taken out of context they still present a remarkable witness of Science seeing, and seeking, God in His Creation - truly one of the most important "signs of the times" for the Church today (cf. Matt 16:1-3).

The Universe is an Interconnected and Coherent Unity

"The new cosmology provides for the first time, a consistent picture of how all physical structures, including space and time, came to exist out of nothing. We are moving towards an understanding in which matter, force, order and creation are unified into a single descriptive scheme. Many of us are deeply impressed by this harmony and order which pervades the physical world." (Paul Davies, art. Sun. Telegraph).

"Modern scientific cosmology possesses such a grasp of a singular coherent Universe as to connect with astonishing skill and exactness its configurations billions of years apart and to infer its large-scale features from the properties of its smallest constituents with breath-taking precision . . . This will bring further witness to the specificity of the totality of interacting things, The Universe." (Stanley Jaki, CC)

A Mathematical Universe

"A scientific study of the action of the Universe has suggested a conclusion which may be summed up, though very crudely and quite inadequately . . . that the Universe appears to have been designed by a pure mathematician . . . the efforts to interpret nature in terms of the concepts of pure mathematics, have so far, proved brilliantly successful . . . from the intrinsic evidence of his creation, the great Architect of the Universe now appears as a pure mathematician." (Sir James Jeans - in Foster, TPS)

"By employing mathematics as a language, science can describe situations which are completely beyond the power of human beings to imagine. Indeed, most of modern physics falls into this category. Without the abstract description provided by mathematics, physics would never have progressed beyond simple mechanics . . .

"Science is possible only because we live in an ordered Universe which complies with simple mathematical laws. The job of the scientist is to study, catalogue and relate the orderliness in Nature, not to question its order. But theologians have long argued that the order in the physical world is evidence for God. If this is true, then science and religion acquire a common purpose in revealing God's work.

"Many physicists have become so deeply impressed with the mathematical simplicity and elegance of the laws of Nature that they maintain it reveals a fundamental feature of existence. Sir James Jeans once remarked that in his opinion `God is a Mathematician'." (Paul Davies, GNP)

"Mathematics is the abstract key which turns the lock of the physical Universe. It seems to me that it is a very significant fact that the experienced rationality of our minds (of which mathematics is an expression) and the perceived rationality of the world (discerned by science) are consonant in this way . . .

"The intelligibility of the world calls for an explanation. Einstein said that the only incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible. The explanation will not be given us by science . . . we shall see what theology has to offer. . . " (John Polkinghorne, OW)

An Intelligent Universe

"The alternative to assembly of life by random, mindless processes is assembly through the intervention of some type of cosmic intelligence. Such a concept would be rejected out of hand by most scientists, although there is no rational argument for such a rejection . . .

"It would not need too great a measure of extrapolation . . . to say that a cosmic intelligence that emerged naturally in the Universe may have designed and worked out all the logical consequences of our own living system. It is human arrogance and human arrogance alone that denies this logical possibility . . .

"In many ways these basic religious aspirations are convergent with our own more rational endeavours as scientists to understand the Universe and the Origin of Life within it. Interestingly, the result we have now arrived at, namely the logical need for intelligence in the Universe, is also consistent with the tenets of most of the major religions of the world." (Hoyle/Wickramasinghe, CLF)

The Universe could not have evolved by Chance

"The operation of pure chance would mean that within the half billion to a billion year period the organic molecules in the primeval seas might have to undergo 10130 trial assemblies in order to hit upon the correct sequence. The probability of such a chance occurrence leading to the formation of one of the smallest protein molecules is unimaginably small. Within the boundary conditions of time and space which we are considering it is effectively zero." (Sir Bernard Lovell, ITCI)

"We have seen how the specificities (improbabilities) involved in organic life are of an incredible degree. Haemoglobin has improbability of 10650 while the DNA of the T4 bacteriophage has an improbability of 1078,000. In a Universe of only 1018 seconds old it is obvious that life could not have evolved by chance . . . Then the conclusion is final: DARWINISM WAS WRONG." (David Foster, TPS)

"Simple statistics soon reveal that the probability of the spontaneous assembly of DNA - the complex molecule that carries the genetic code - as a result of random concatenations of the soup molecules is ludicrously - almost unthinkably small. There are so many combinations that the chance of the right one cropping up by blind chance is virtually zero." (Paul Davies, GNP)

"It is possible to perform rough calculations of the probability that the endless breakup and reforming of the soup's complex molecules would lead to a smaller virus after a billion years. Such are the enormous number of different chemical combinations that the odds work out at over 102,000,000 to one against. This mind-numbing number is more than the chances against flipping heads on a coin six million times in a row. Changing from a virus to some hypothetical simpler replicator could improve the odds considerably, but with numbers like this it doesn't change the conclusion: the spontaneous generation of life by random molecular shuffling is a ludicrously impossible event." (Paul Davies, CBP)

"The idea that life was put together by random shuffling of constituent molecules can be shown to be as ridiculous and improbable as the proposition that a tornado blowing through a junk yard may assemble a Boeing 747." (Hoyle/Wickramasinghe, The Times)

"The outstanding question that remains to be answered is the origin of the information content within the cosmic genetic packages that contributes to the evolution of life. This is what philosophers would regard as the quest for a First Cause. Did such information arise from a purely random assembly process, somewhere in the Universe, or was the cosmic genetic system in some way deliberately created? . .

"A simple calculation shows that the chance of obtaining the necessary total of 2,000 enzymes by randomly assembling amino acid chains is exceedingly minute . . . equal to 1040,000 to one against. The odds of one to 1040,000 against are horrendous enough . . . such a number exceeds the total number of fundamental particles throughout the observed Universe by very many orders of magnitude." (Hoyle/Wickramasinghe, CLF)

"Imagine a blindfolded person trying to solve the Rubik Cube. The odds are roughly the same as those against just one of our body's 200,000 proteins having evolved randomly by chance." (Hoyle, TIU)

"The Universe, as observed by astronomers, would not be large enough to hold the monkeys needed to write even one scene from Shakespeare, or hold their typewriters, and certainly not the wastepaper baskets needed for the rubbish they would type." (Hoyle, TIU)

"`Chance' properly and philosophically so called, means that anything may happen anywhere, anyhow, anytime, for any reason and for none at all. In the usual way of using words, to say that something happened by chance, or by luck, means only that the course of events was not premeditated or set in motion by oneself. Strict `chance' would imply that there was no meaningful link, no relationship of necessity or of finalism between one event or series of events, and what follows through them. In the true sense of the term then, the process of Evolution and the serial interdependence of complex natures cannot be ascribed to `chance'. This would make nonsense of experimental science. It would make more obviously nonsense of the exact mathematical sciences, for chance in such a radical sense is incompatible with the notion of an equation in any sense of that word, with an equation of values in movement in which the future is latent as progress in the constitution of the forces concerned as now organised at any given instant of time." (Edward Holloway, CAN)

"It is clear that our Universe is not a Universe of chance. Nor is it correct to say that it is `explained' or `ruled' by chance. This is a contradiction in terms, since chance explains nothing. The idea that chaos, disorder, or chance transforms  the  Universe  into  order  puts  the  whole  process  outside  the  boundaries  of  reason.  It  is  an  irrational explanation . . . By definition, Chance can never be God, and it makes no sense to speak as if it were." (Roger Nesbitt, EEG)

A Universe ruled by Laws or a "Superlaw"

"What about the laws? Granted that, initially at least, the Universe was in a very simple state, there can be no doubt that the laws of physics are still rather numerous and special. Are these laws not contingent? Could we not envisage a host of alternatives? . . . Why those particles? Why do they have the masses and charges they do? . . . The theologian has a ready answer. God made it that way. God, who is infinite simplicity, chose to create the laws of physics and the constituents of matter in complex variety, in order to produce an interesting Universe.

"Physics can perhaps explain the content, origin and organization of the physical Universe, but not the laws (or superlaw) of physics itself. Traditionally God is credited with having invented the laws of Nature and created the things on which those laws operate." (Paul Davies, GNP)

"To me the laws of the Universe from quarks to quasars, dovetail so felicitously that the impression there is something behind it all seems overwhelming. The laws of physics are so remarkably `clever' they can surely only be the manifestation of genius." (Paul Davies, art.Sun.Tel.)

"Many physicists have been deeply inspired by the remarkable harmony, order and unity of Nature that recent advances have uncovered. They are sufficiently impressed by the way that the laws of Nature hang together that they feel compelled to believe there is something behind it all; in a pithy phrase of Fred Hoyle, `The universe is a putup job'." (Paul Davies, SF)

Evidence for Design

"The advances in the natural sciences over the last quarter century have been so great that it is now possible to ask with greater precision and knowledge whether the evolution of the Universe as a whole, and the evolution of life on this planet make it probable that there is a design underlying them." (Hugh Montefiore, TPG)

"We have no option but to accept evolution; all the fossil evidence points to it. The contention is only about the cause. Darwin maintains that the cause was chance . . . this process Darwin called natural selection. As a physicist I cannot accept this. It seems to me to be impossible that chance variation should have produced the remarkable machine that is the human body. Take only one example - the eye. Darwin admitted this defeated him . . . I myself can see no alternative to the hypothesis that living matter was designed. The origin of life is not explained in terms of standard science nor is the wonderful succession of living creatures formed throughout the thousands of millions of years of this planet's existence. But who was the Designer?" (Prof. Henry Lipson, The Times)

A Cosmos not a Chaos

"While it is utterly futile to speculate about the time allotted to the Universe, its state at any time shows characteristics which make it a beauty par excellence, a cosmos in short. It has supreme coherence from the very small to the very large. It is a consistent unity free from debilitating paradoxes. It is beautifully proportioned into layers or dimensions and yet all of them are in perfect interaction. It is on an evolutionary track which is firmly set and heading in a specific direction. The evolution of the Universe does not, contrary to the cliché phrase, have its origin in chaos, that is in an entity standing for confusion, disorder, and complete absence of specificity. Such an entity is unthinkable in the strict sense. Chaos, universal chance, and the like are contradictory notions. There is no such thing as absolute randomness. Any probability theory must assume the existence of some basic regularity and specificity." (Stanley Jaki, CC)

"The study of cosmology offers especially compelling evidence for unity; the subject itself would not exist if one could not speak of `the Universe' as an integrated system. But the evidence goes beyond unity. Every advance in fundamental physics seems to uncover yet another facet of order. The very success of the scientific method depends upon the fact that the physical world operates according to rational principles which can therefore be discerned through rational enquiry. Logically, the Universe does not have to be this way. We could conceive of a cosmos where chaos reigns. In place of the orderly and regimented behaviour of matter and energy one would have arbitrary and haphazard activity. Stable structures like atoms or peoples or stars could not exist. The real world is not this way. It is ordered and complex. Is that not itself an astonishing fact at which to marvel?

"How therefore, do some scientists such as Weinberg conclude that the world is pointless in the face of the ubiquitous order displayed by the laws of Nature? I think that in part it is a case of being unable to see the wood for the trees. A professional scientist is so immersed in unravelling the laws of Nature that he forgets how remarkable it is that there are these laws in the first place. Because science presupposes rational laws, the scientist rarely stops to think about why these laws exist. Just as a crossword addict assumes without thinking that there is an answer to the puzzle, so the scientist rarely questions the fact that there are rational answers to his scientific enquiries.

"This spirit of `so what?' has permeated the whole of Western technological society. Even non-scientists accept without thinking the orderly operation of the cosmos. They know the sun will rise on schedule each morning, that a stone will unfailingly fall down rather than up, and that the gadgets and machines around them will always operate correctly so long as there are no faults in their mechanisms. The rationality, dependability, and order of the physical world is taken for granted. It is so much a fact of life that it rarely provokes any sense of wonder." (Paul Davies, SF)

What caused the Big Bang?

"If we now ask cosmologists how the primeval fireball came into existence, or in other words, what happened before the Big Bang, they tell us with commendable modesty that they don't know. Our present knowledge of the laws of physics fails at the stupendous densities involved and, not surprisingly, cannot be used to describe what happens at the very earliest stages - before 10-43 seconds! - of the Big Bang. Furthermore the question is mildly embarrassing to many of them because it seems to involve creating something out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo), and looks like one of those questions about first and last things which they regard as being outside the boundary fence of science - something perhaps for the theologians. We seem to have reached the point where the modern Book of Genesis has nothing to add to `Fiat Lux'." (Hanbury Brown, TWS)

"If the Universe is simply an accident, the odds against it containing any appreciable order are ludicrously small. If the Big Bang was just a random event, then the probability seems overwhelming (a colossal understatement) that the emerging cosmic material would be in thermodynamic equilibrium at maximum entropy with zero order. As this was clearly not the case, it appears hard to escape the conclusion that the actual state of the Universe has been `chosen' or selected from the huge number of available states, all but an infinitesimal fraction of which are totally disordered. And if such an exceedingly improbable initial state was selected, there surely had to be a selector or designer to `choose' it?" (Paul Davies, GNP)

"It is remarkable that the Big Bang occurred in such a way as to make possible the eventual formation of galaxies, with the consequent possibility of life on earth." (Hugh Montefiore, TPG)

The Anthropic Principle

"Underlying the argument for the supernatural or the super-intelligent is the anthropic principle, the realisation that the Universe is so exactly the right kind of Universe for man that we must meditate on the thousands of coincidences that are absolutely essential for man, or indeed life, to exist. One slight variation in just one of those essential coincidences would have altered the physical Universe drastically, possibly totally. Yet, down to the fine structure constants that dictate gravitational, electromagnetic, and strong and weak nuclear forces, and up to the basic biological prerequisites, we find the cosmos in general, our Sun in particular, and Earth most particularly, so minutely attuned to us, that the conclusion seems inescapable: God or someone else of the same name made it like that, with us in mind. It is, we insist, just too much of a coincidence, just too much of a miracle, to say it is pure unnecessitated chance." (Ralph Estling in Davies, SF)

"The anthropic principle is almost like an anti-Copernican revolution, not restoring the Earth to the centre of the cosmos but linking the nature of the Universe with its potentiality for the evolution of men". (Polkinghorne, OW)

The Certainty of God

"Whatever the theory adopted concerning the origin of the Universe, the most basic question cannot be avoided. This Universe in constant movement postulates a Cause which, in giving it being, has communicated to it this movement, and continues to sustain it. Without such a supreme Cause, the world and every movement in it would remain "unexplained" and "inexplicable” and our intelligence would not be satisfied. The human mind can receive a response to its questions only by admitting a Being who has created the world with all its dynamism, and who continues to maintain it in existence.

"The necessity to go back to a supreme Cause is all the greater if one considers the perfect organization which science ceaselessly discovers in the structure of matter. When human intelligence is applied with so much effort to determine the constitution and modalities of action of material particles, is it not perhaps induced to seek their origin in a Superior Intelligence which has conceived the whole? In the face of the marvel of what can be called the immensely small world of the atom, and the immensely great world of the cosmos, the human mind feels itself completely surpassed in its possibilities of creation and even of imagination, and understands that a work of such quality and proportions demands a Creator whose wisdom is beyond all measure, and whose power is infinite.

"All the observations concerning the development of life lead to a similar conclusion. The evolution of living beings, of which science seeks to determine the stages and to discern the mechanism, presents an internal finality which arouses admiration. This finality which directs beings in a direction for which they are not responsible or in charge, obliges one to suppose a Mind which is its inventor, its Creator." (Pope John Paul 11, 10/7/85)

"In facing up to such a Universe -thoroughly coherent, strikingly specific in space and in time, in its entirety and in its details, and exclusive in its oneness - the most reasonable attitude seems to accept it as something given, and given by a Creator." (Stanley Jaki, CC)

"There is no known procedure whereby specificities such as 10650  of haemoglobin can be explained without introducing a supernatural intelligence into science, an intelligence which can ignore statistics and create unique purpose . . . put simply GOD EXISTS."

"Up until 1900 science dealt heavy blows to religion based on `proofs' related to chance and necessity and attributable to Darwin, the second law of thermodynamics and single level mechanical models of reality. All these three ideologies have been progressively demolished from 1900 onwards, particularly by Planck, Einstein and Hiesenberg, and latterly by molecular biology. They are replaced by a new idea of the importance and dominance of specificity in the Universe, with the inevitable implication that GOD EXISTS." (David Foster, TPS)

"Every thing and every event in the physical Universe must depend for its explanation on something outside itself. When a phenomenon is explained it is explained in terms of something else. But if that phenomenon is all of existence - the entire physical Universe -then clearly there is nothing physical outside the Universe (by definition) to explain it. So any explanation must be in terms of something non-physical and supernatural. That something is God. The Universe is the way it is because God has chosen it to be that way. Science, which by definition deals only with the physical Universe, might successfully explain one thing in terms of another, and that in terms of another and so on, but the totality of physical things demands an explanation from without.". (Paul Davies, GNP) "The evolution of matter through time as an ordered ascent to ever more perfect forms would be impossible without a Centre of Control and Direction which can foresee the future developments in terms of the initial poising of the elements . . . This Centre must be outside of time and change, outside of the evolutionary ascent to plan it. It must be beyond space and matter to direct it. We are led logically to an Eternal Being, non-material and distinct from matter. This Centre of Control and Direction must be then a Supreme Spirit. It must also be a Mind, a principle of order, to plan the ordered process, and a Will to desire its execution. This Eternal Spirit of Mind and Will we will call GOD . . . Without a personal God the Universe as we know it would be inconceivable. God is an absolute necessity of evolution, and all types of atheism, in denying a Centre of Control and Direction, in denying God, end up by being self-contradictory and absurd." (Roger Nesbitt, EEG)

"We are saying that without a personal God as the constant absolute of this substantial relativity in being across space and time, the creation as we know it and can prove it, is inconceivable . . . to make the Universe intelligible and the progression of higher being up to and including man intelligible, God is a necessity not only of metaphysics but of mathematics." (Edward Holloway, CAN)

Relations between Science and Religion

"Religion without science is blind. Science without religion is lame." (Albert Einstein)

"It may seem bizarre, but in my opinion science offers a surer path to God than religion. Right or wrong, the fact that science has actually advanced to the point where what were formerly religious questions can be seriously tackled, itself indicates the far reaching consequences of the new physics." (Paul Davies, GNP)

"The erosion of the fabric of understanding created by St Thomas Aquinas was a triumph for science, but it created divisions in man's life and thought never subsequently healed . . . The hope of our generation is to re-establish, as Aquinas did seven hundred years ago, the fabric of man's attempt to comprehend the Universe." (Sir Bernard Lovell, ICI)

"When we consider what religion is for mankind, and what science is, it is no exaggeration to say that the future course of history depends upon the decision of this generation as to the relations between them." (A.N. Whitehead in Lovell, ICI)

"The theology of creation has been for many decades a stepchild in comparison with a large number of theological topics centring mostly on the notion of the Church. That enormously much has been written on the vast topic of the Church does not mean that all therein is now clear. Indeed there are signs of a growing confusion which may have its source in the neglect, theological and philosophical, shown to the absolute startingpoint, Creation, with respect to existence as well as to any reflection on it." (Stanley Jaki, CC)

"Over the west door of Chartres Cathedral are the images of four great scientists (Euclid, Pythagoras, Ptolemy and Aristotle) together with Christ and the Saints. They were put there in the 12th century as an expression of the unity of science and religion. Can the Christian Church, eight centuries later, recapture that vision?" (Hanbury Brown, TWS)

In the Beginning was the Word (Logos)

"A new model of religion - cosmic cybernetics: God is the Programmer, The Logos is the Programme, and Nature is the Print-out!" (David Foster, TPS)

"The Word, the Logos, combines two notions, one Greek, one Hebrew. For the Greek the logos was the rational ordering principle of the Universe. For the Hebrew the word of the Lord was God's activity in the world. (In Hebrew, dabar means both word and deed . . . ) Science discerns a world of rational order developing through the unfolding of process, a fusion of Greek and Hebrew insights. Theology declares that world in its scientific character to be an expression of the Word of God. For `all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made'." (John Polkinghorne, OW)

"When a Christian writes down an equation, he should be conscious that he is writing down a symbolic creed or profession of faith in the LOGOS. He knows that the Logos leads to the question of meaning which, if we look with an open heart, leads to the Father. For `he who has seen me has seen the Father'." (Paul Kapusta, Faith)

5. GOD'S MASTER KEY: THE LAW OF CONTROL AND DIRECTION

The following quotations are taken from a new booklet "God's Master Key: The Law of Control and Direction" by Agnes Holloway.

"God sends them this revelation under the Law of Control and Direction to show them that their beliefs in the Doctrines of Holy Church are true and firmly rooted in the very plan of Creation - that far from Holy Doctrine opposing Science its foundations are the very bedrock of all Science." (p.13)

"Acting through and with all known laws of Nature there is a Law, a vital principle, of which all other laws, also Time and Space, are but the instruments. It is The Law of Control and Direction - Two aspects of one reality - One Law." (p.14)

"Purpose or predestination necessitates control and intelligence preceding it. As there is law and order in the Universe we know control exists, just in the same way because there is motion in the Universe we know direction is something just as definite." (p.15)

"When and where can have no meaning unless purpose be added, intelligence must precede it." (p.15)

"The vital principle of the Law of Control and Direction is that a thing cannot be its own cause and its own control, in every case the control is of an opposite nature to that which it controls." (p.16)

"Purpose or design is also part of the nature of things, which must be preceded by intelligence. The very first creation needed control and direction for it to begin to achieve its purpose in evolution. The control itself must be subject to the Law of Control and Direction i.e. that a thing cannot be its own cause and its own control.

"So the first control of the first creation to obey The Law of Control and Direction cannot be material, because there is no other material cause preceding it to form its control.

"The purpose preceding the first material creation is itself preceded by the Intelligence which controls and directs it to achieve its purpose in evolution. It follows that the first control and the intelligence that precedes it and directs it to its purpose cannot be material but spiritual.

"Intelligence as understood by mankind cannot reside in nothing, but is characteristic of personality. The first Infinite Intelligence, Control and Direction, we call God." (p.16-17)

"Now preceding the operation of the Law of Control and Direction there must be wise intelligence, without intelligence there cannot be either control and direction but utter chaos. Also that the Intelligence preceding this natural law has but one will, because there is perfect harmony.

"The first material created substance, electrons etc. has for its control that which is not material, that which is not material must be spiritual. Moreover, in that spiritual control must be embodied the intelligence which has worked through evolution with an infinite wisdom and unchanging law. An Infinite Creator, Architect, Artist, whose imposed natural Law of Control and Direction has, by evolution, brought about the vast machinery of the Universe as we know it today." (p.24-25)

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen 1:1)

"`In the beginning' means from the time of the very first material creation, of whatever kind it was, received the first impetus from God, its Creator, and was sent under its way under The Law of Control and Direction to bring about the condition in time which resulted in the World being void and empty; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." (p.42-43)

Further Reading

The following books refer to the relations between Modern Science and Religion in various ways. They all show the increasing importance of the relations between them.

God's Master Key: The Law of Control and Direction by Agnes Holloway (Faith-Keyway)

Catholicism: A New Synthesis by Edward Holloway (Faith-Keyway)

Cosmos and Creator by Stanley Jaki (Scottish Academic Press)

The Road of Science and the Ways to God by Stanley Jaki (Scottish Academic Press) The Origin of Science and the Science of its Origin by Stanley Jaki (Sc.Ac.Press) Evolution and the Existence of God by Roger Nesbitt (Faith Pamphlets)

The Rediscovery of God by Edward Holloway (Faith Magazine; May/June 1984)

Science and the Christocentric Universe by Paul Kapusta (Faith Magazine Jan/Feb 1988)

The Probability of God by Hugh Montefiore (SCM Press)

God and the New Biology by Arthur Peacocke (Dent)

One World; The Interaction of Science & Theology by John Polkinghorne (SPCK)

God and Evolution by R. J. Berry (Hodder & Stoughton)

The Origins of Life by Jim Brooks (Lion)

The Wisdom of Science by Hanbury Brown (Cambridge Univ. Press)

In the Centre of Immensities by Bernard Lovell (Granada)

God and the New Physics by Paul Davies (Dent) Superforce: The Search for a Grand Unified Theory by Paul Davies (Counterpoint)

The Cosmic Blueprint by Paul Davies (Heinemann)

The Intelligent Universe by Fred Hoyle (Michael Joseph)

Evolution from Space by Fred Hoyle & Chandra Wickramasinghe (Dent)

Cosmic Life-Force by Fred Hoyle & Chandra Wickramasinghe (Dent)

Wholeness and the Implicate Order by David Bohm (RKP)

The Philosophical Scientists by David Foster (Hurst)

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (Bantam Press)

The Existence of God by Richard Swinburne (Oxford-Clarendon Press)

The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra (Flamingo)

www.faith.org.uk