The New Scientific Case For God

The Dark Night Sky Paradox

If the universe is infinite in spatial extent then light from infinite number of stars would always be pouring down on the earth from the skies. A simple mathematical calculation would show that the sky would never be dark under such circumstances. The paradox can ONLY be solved if we assume a finite age of the universe (a beginning).

In such a case which corresponds to reality, we are only able to see the light which has had time to travel across space to earth since the beginning of the particular star from which it comes (Davies :46).

GOD NEEDED FOR THE BIG BANG:

  1. The Flatness Problem in Cosmology:

The actual density of the universe is average amount of matter or mass-energy per unit of space. If the actual density of the universe is greater than a particular critical density then the universe will eventually stop expanding. Since after more than 10 billion years of expanding, the universes actual density is pretty close to its critical density, scientists conclude that at the time of the big bang, these two figures must have been very close to each other. They do not know why this was so.

If it had not been so, and the actual density differed from the critical by even a tiny amount, either way, our universe would have ceased to exist after only a few million years.. This is termed as the flatness problem. They do not know why both the figures were where they were supposed to be to make our universe still exist after 10 billion years.

The Koran talked about the "expanding universe" as well, fourteen centuries before scientists discovered it: " And the sky, we built it with might and We cause the expansion of it." Koran 51:47

If the universe had been expanding too rapidly, the clouds that formed the galaxies would have been spread thin and pulled apart before gravity could dominate... On the other hand if the universe had started out expanding too slowly, it would have come to a halt and started to re-collapse with galaxies falling towards each other (Gribbins, Rees: 17)

If we push back to the earliest time at which our theories of physics can be thought to have any validity, the implication is that the "density-parameter" was set in the beginning, with an accuracy of 1 part in 1060 (10 followed by 60 zeroes). Changing the parameter, either way, by a fraction given by a decimal point followed by sixty zeroes and a one; would have made the universe unsuitable for life as we know it. (Gribbens, Rees: 18)

We are reminded of the "Flatness" of the universe, its smoothness in this statement of the Koran:

"[It is God] who has created the multiple skies, one separate from the other (as layers). You cannot see any flaw in the Merciful (God's) creation. Look again, can you make out any rifts?" (Koran 67:3)

  1. The Horizon or the Isotropy Problem:

At around 300,00 years after the big bang, all parts of the universe, even separated by more than 20 times the horizon distance, and expanding in opposite directions, in causally disconnected regions (i.e.. no cause or physical effect could pass from one region to the other), began to expand with the same expansion rate and temperature.

No natural explanation exists to explain how a chaotic explosion, the big bang resulted in a uniform expansion pattern among causally disconnected regions, expanding in opposite directions. Calculations indicate that when the universe was a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth second old, it consisted of 10 to the power 80 causally disconnected regions, and no physical effect could have traveled from one region to another and yet 300,000 years after, cosmic background radiation proves that they all started expanding with the same expansion rate and the same temperature. The Koran informs us of the uniformity of cause in the early universe

"... And He (God) inspired in all the heavens their mandate (Koran 41:12)."

"And He (God) raised the sky and set the balance. (Koran 55:7)."

How Galaxies Became Possible

Calculations by cosmologists indicate that matter in the early universe was uniformly distributed and hence gravitational contractions (contraction is opposite of expansion) in an expanding universe could not have taken place due to natural circumstances unless some special features were built into they system about one second after the big bang by intelligence. If the big bang was a chance event what we would see would be a disorderly arrangement of matter with no galaxies and no order.

An intelligent designer controlled things ".....and we decked the skies of the world with lamps.... Such is the measuring of the Mighty (God), the Knower." Koran 41:12 Einstein's General Theory of Relativity leads scientists to conclude that in its earliest instant, the universe was infinitely dense where its diameter was zero, i.e. nothing:, yes the universe was nothing at one time. God creates out of nothing, just as the Koran suggests.

NATURAL AND SUFFICIENT REASONS FOR THE CONSTANTS?

There can be natural and sufficient reasons for some physical characteristics of the universe but not all. Without suitable constants, life as we know it wouldn't have existed and there would be no one to wonder about the cosmos.

Consider this analogy by a Canadian philosopher, John Leslie, suppose you are facing execution by a fifty man firing squad. The bullets are fired and you find that all have missed their target. Had they not done so you would not have survived to ponder the matter. But realizing that you are alive, you would legitimately be perplexed and wonder why ( Gribbens, Rees 271).

  1. The law of conservation of mass and energy

: The mass-energy in the universe neither increases or decreases. Therefore the total amount of mass-energy in the universe has been the same and will remain the same. If someone were to figure out the mass-energy total in the universe and give it a figure say X, no natural explanation can exist on why it is X and not X+100 or X-100 and so on.

  1. The Constants

: There are no natural and sufficient reasons why all of the universes constants have the values they have. If they had different values, life would cease to exist. However they have the values they have regardless of any physical necessity if we take God out of the picture. Examples like, the Planck's constant, the speed of light, the electron charge, the gravitational constant. These constants with the exception of the gravitational constant have not varied more than one percent since the start of the universe and are same throughout. The gravitational constant has varied around ten percent.

It should be noted at this point that these constants have been there since the beginning of the universe, a time before life appeared. These and other strange laws of nature defy any natural and sufficient reasons for their existence, the only valid explanation left is that they were set by an intelligent designer: "... the measuring of the Mighty (God), the Knower." Koran 41:12 According to the principle of sufficient reason stated by G.W. Leibniz, No fact can be real or existing and no statement true unless there is a SUFFICIENT reason why anything is the way it is and not otherwise.

Whereas scientists face an enigma here, which threatens the edifice of their work, the followers of the Koran face no such enigma at all. God is the sufficient reason. The cause of the constants: "To Him submits whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth." (Koran)