SCIENCE,RELIGION AND GOD

BY K P PASWAN

EINSTEIN once remarked ''I would have been sorry for Dear Lord, if my theory of relativity is proven wrong".

 The quotation as mentioned above, was not used as metaphor.Theory of Relativity has neither been replaced or falsified and has become immortal giving rise to speculation that, Theory of Relativity predicts a Creative Agency.

The greatest of physicist of human civilization tried his best to modify Relativity by integrating Quantum effects with relativity, but failed. It is interesting to note that Einstein was awarded Nobel Prize for his discovery of Photoelectric, which comes within the parameter of Quantum physics.Even after a lapse of one hundred years(Theory of Relativity was propounded in 1915), no breakthrough, has been achieved, in integrating Relativity and Quantum effects,  both are poles apart.  Physicists after physicists are trying their best to replace, theory of Relativity by a unifying theory, known widely as theory of Quantum Gravity or Theory of Everything, but their efforts are ending in abject failure.

It is often said that science and religion are poles apart, but in reality, this thinking is far from truth. Many scientists including a large number of Nobel laureates in physics and chemistry are religious by nature, and an Indian scientist and world-renowned physicist and Nobel laureate, the late S Chandrasekhar used to call himself as an ATHEIST HINDU, but he observed all the Hindu rituals.

 At present more than 335, Americans have been awarded Nobel prizes in different subjects, but majority of them are physicists, and contrary to Steven Weinberg, only five have declared themselves as atheist, and none of them are physicists, except Weinberg. Even in the case of Stewen Weinberg, it is difficult to say, whether he was an atheist or a believer. He was a Jew and a supporter of Israel A Reverend Father in London, who is also a qualified physicist, declared sometimes back ‘'Before Big Bang GOD is amazing, but after Big Bang, He has become more amazing".

 Late Stephen Hawking asks in his book, A Brief History Of Time,if there is a GOD, than who created him? It is extremely surprising, because while refusing the existence of GOD, Hawking thinks that the universe is brute force, than on the same analogy, theologians are right in saying that God is a  Brute Force. 

First Cause is the fundamental of western and Christian philosophy. As per Christian belief, GOD created the universe out of free will, that he is above time. This thinking has been examined both by scientists and theologians, while the later sticks to first cause, the particle physicists tries to remove any reason or cause with the help of Quantum physics, but it is a wrong to say, that the First cause has been removed, it stands firmly and is immune from every assault by scientists.

 REASONS OF CONFLICT. Fundamental Science is making tall  claims that they have solved the mystery behind the existence of the universe without God. But this is a farce and misleading. Religion preach  that the universe has been created by an omniscient and omnipotent God. But this thinking was challenged by  David Hume, the great philosopher of 18th century, by his  devastating argument, ‘If the evil and suffering of people are known to God, and he cannot remove these, he is not benevolent, and if the sufferings are not known to him, than he is not omnipotent, so GOD cannot be both omnipotent and omniscient’. 

 Then there is mind boggling question, if God had been content to endure for eternity without a universe,what caused him to make up his mind and create one? There is no answer to this question.

  Newton was very religious, even though his theory of gravitation limited the power of God. Pale,a British theologian propounded Design theory, it was so compelling that it appeared GOD regained lost power, but this glory was short lived as Darwin inflicted a fatal blow to the philosophy of design by presenting theory of evolution. This theory of evolution, suffers from age old conundrum, that is evolution from what and into what? No authentic answer is available. So Pale's designer is back in action.

Twentieth century witnessed more and more study on the presence of a divine power. Theory of Relativity is far better than Newton’s theory of gravitation. An expanding universe is the fundamental to Relativity, it implies that in the paste, the universe must have been compressed to a point smaller or equal to proton, this is known as singularity, which is less understood and still undefined. Singularity led to the emergence of Standard Model or creation of universe in a big bang. Still there was enough scope for a supernatural power to play dice at micro level, as theory of relativity breaks down at singularity.Quantum physicists boast of removing GOD  from this position,but they are not telling the truth, because they are not in a position to unravel the truth.

 Cosmological time has neither past, present and future. If we imagine of a divine power concerned with our well-being, than he must be working in time which means, he is certainly neither immortal nor omnipotent. But it is just an assumption. Theologians and scientists try to solve this conundrum. St Augustine, a theologian of ancient time placed GOD, above time and nearly solved the problems.Still definition of time is needed to create final theory of creation of universe.

 EMPIRICAL CONTENT. Science is about empirical content, but this is not relevant.  There is nothing that is scientifically proven. When theory changes, the content also changes. General Theory of Relativity explains in detail, only the universe from the time, when big bang happened, but before big bang there is undefined moment, and field is open for Quantum physics. If universe is to be explained on the basis of singularity, than Relativity and Quantum physics must be integrated to give rise to Quantum gravity. Scientists have failed so far to merge quantum physics with relativity. If Scientists say they have solved all problems, they are hood winking the world.

STRING. String theory incorporates gravity, but the creation conundrum still persists. So, physicists introduced Quantum loop which is slightly better than string theory, but creation conundrum is not vanished, so there is M membrane and theory of multiverses, which are supposed to remove GOD. M. theory combines in hundred ways Quantum effects with Relativity,  and one is free to draw conclusion, in his own way. Many worlds theory, is based upon Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. By this theory, attempts are made to remove God by presenting infinite number of self-organized universes, but it is not fully developed or  proved. So a better theory is being searched in the form of Theory of Everything  which according to a world famous cosmologist of Britain will explain nothing.

ROLE OF EQUATIONS. Hawking asks "What is that  breaths fire into equation that make a universe". Here the brilliant   scientist was criticized by several physicists. Even the final laws of nature, shall not create a universe, these equations simply will describe the operations of the visible universe and nothing else. Hawking along with few known physicists, desperately  tried to search God in equations, but failed and than sought the help of controversial Anthropic principles to explain certain natural phenomena, not explained by known laws of physics.

GOD DELUSION. In a book of the same name, a British scientist Richard Dawkins refutes the existence of God. But in the same book, he writes that technically God's presence cannot be denied, but it is impossible.  This is surprising, if anything is technically possible, then it must be further investigated. Multiverses theory is being explored by many physicists,as it is a possibility in Quantum interpretation of initial conditions.

 Dawkins launches a tirade against religion, and he may be right, as we see army of fanatics,in the name of God and religion are masterminding serial blasts and killing innocent people. But misuse of religion cannot be the basis for denying the existence of a super natural power. He describes Einstein as an atheist, but the quotation as given by a famous astrophysicist and mentioned  in the opening  paragraph of this blog contradicts Dawkins conclusion.

Richard Dawkins has no feelings for those highly qualified scientists, who defend their faith in a super natural divine power. Dawkins tries to justify theory of revolution to deny the existence of God, but theory of evolution is not the ultimate theory to explain the origin of this universe.

Martin Rees, a famous British physicist and popular science writer was awarded Templeton award for writing something good about Church and religion. He was condemned by Richard Dawkins and declared that he was surprised that an atheist Martin Rees was accepting Templeton Award. But the fact is that Martin Rees is not an atheist, his books, suggests the presence of a Deity.It is  surprising to see, a large number of believers being declared as atheists by Richard Hawkins in his book GOD DELUSION.

 ROGER PENROSE is a Nobel Laureate in physics and a leading authority on Relativity. He asserts that the present universe emerges from a previous universe, this is like a cyclic universe mentioned in Hindu Scriptures. Problems of entropy( Disorder) in a cyclic universe may be solved by a new set of laws, yet to be discovered. Sir Penrose and late Stephen Hawking are famous for their works on Black Holes.

BLACK-HOLE. Black hole is known only for its destructive powers, but what is its scientific definition?It is defined by global geometry, if there is a single black hole. But due to its destructive nature, and when stars collapse and merges with a black hole, its definition is changed.In such case, there is no fundamental difference between elementary particles and black holes.In other words, we may count every particle as black hole,but that is not correct.

A Hindu scholar once asked Hawking in London in 1997 or 1998 about destructive powers of popular Hindu goddess Kali,  the Hindu scholar wanted to know whether Goddess Kali was an embodiment of Black hole? We do not know the answer,but the Hindu scholar was happy and next day caught flight for India to offer worship to the said Goddess in Kolkata.As per Hindu philosophy manifestation is the central theme and not the creation.This philosophy is more or less supported by some scientists, including legendary Heisenberg and Oppenheimer,

CREATOR CONUNDRUM. Theory after theory is being propounded to explain the universe next theory, may prove better than previous one, but it will not explain the origin of universe All these so called theories from Standard Model to Quantum loop gravity are based upon Relativity.

The universe is evolving and certainly, we  are not the final target.The process of evolution will continue,till the  universe's expansion halts, starts contracting and disappears or bounce back at singularity with new laws. This has been proposed by Roger Penrose.

  FINAL WORDS . Frustration looms large over the human race as the creator, if there is any, is not showing his presence to the faithful, and if there is either no creator or a creating agency, then present laws of physics cannot explain an universe inhabited by intelligent being.