A Theory Of Everything

 In last week's post, I defended the dogma of Transubstantiation against pseudo-scientists who believe religion is the result of contact with extraterrestrials. However, there are many people who feel that legitimate science has rendered God "obsolete." God was a human invention to explain things we didn't understand, but now we know better. For many, science is the new "religion," and scientists the "priests."  One of the primary reasons the majority of scientists are agnostics or atheists is because of their attempted application of science to areas where science has nothing to say, for example, morality or metaphysics. Science cannot be used to determine right from wrong in morals. What experiment or equation "proves" adultery to be wrong? You can claim you disapprove of it, or you don't think it's advantageous, or you think you should treat others the way you want to be treated, but it's all subjective on the atheistic point of view. There can be no objective morals (i.e., right and wrong actions that would be that way no matter what anyone thought) unless there is a transcendent God.

 The "chief priest" among today's scientific establishment is Dr. Stephen Hawking, considered the most brilliant scientist alive (and one of the greatest geniuses ever). Born in 1942, Hawking is a theoretical physicist, having received his PhD in applied mathematics and theoretical physics from Gonville and Caius College in 1966.  In 1974, he made a theoretical formula and argument for radiation predicted to be released by black holes, due to quantum effects near the event horizon. This radiation has subsequently been named Hawking Radiation. Should it be verified experimentally, he will receive a Nobel Prize. He taught at Oxford where he held the Lucasian Professorship, a chair once held by Sir Issac Newton. He has a plethora of academic honors and awards that would yield a list pages long. Most incredibly, he lost all control of his body as a result of ALS, a degenerative disease of the nervous system. He is confined to a wheelchair and speaks through an electronic voice synthesizer.

 Hawking has brought physics to the dinner table in the form of popular books such as the bestselling A Brief History of Time, published in 1988. His life was turned into a 2014 movie The Theory of Everything. Indeed, that is what Hawking wants to do; in his own words, "My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all." As Hawking is a professed atheist, his answer will not be found in theism in general or a particular religion. He thinks science can explain our purpose. His 2010 book, The Grand Design (co-authored by Leonard Mlodinow, a fellow scientist and author), claims the laws of physics are the real explanation as to how the universe came into being.

 My purpose in this post is not to engage Dr. Hawking in a debate on science; as a former NYC science teacher, I'm woefully unqualified for the task. He's an expert in the highest degree, and I'm not. What I hope to show is that it is a categorical mistake to try to apply the scientific method to queries outside its field of competence. It's analogous to asking your medical doctor for legal advice; the doctor could be brilliant, but you can't diagnose a problem in contract law using medical knowledge. The Grand Design (hereinafter "TGD") asks many questions, several of which are beyond the scope of science to answer. These logical mistakes and flaws will be put forward to demonstrate that Hawking's thesis of a "self-caused universe" must fail.

Posing Questions Science Can't Answer

 In TGD, Hawkins asks some questions that humanity has thought about for ages, many of which science can answer. However, there are three queries that are outside the scope of empirical verification and have no place being answered by physics, to wit:

• Why is there something rather than nothing? 
• Why do we exist? 
• Why this particular set of laws and not some other? 

Attempting to answer these questions scientifically is absurd. I believe that my father and mother (God rest their souls) loved me. How can science prove or disprove if they loved me? It can't. I can offer many and good logical reasons for thinking they did love me, and I'm not being irrational for holding this belief.

Hawking states on page 180 of TGD that, "Because there is a law of gravity, the universe can and will create itself out of nothing." That sentence caused me to do a double take. (For an amazing response to Hawking please see God and Stephen Hawking by Dr. John C. Lennox, a mathematician and professor at Oxford. Dr. Lennox is Protestant and has debated atheists publicly. Many of these insights I owe to him).  My training as a lawyer helps me spot a bad argument and faulty premises. I studied Constitutional Law for part of a semester under the great Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. He was fond of saying, "Just because a law is stupid doesn't make it unconstitutional. Don't think that anyone is immune from making stupid arguments or doing stupid things." The same holds for the brilliant Dr. Hawking.

 What, exactly, does Hawking mean by "nothing"? He can't mean non-being as in Neo-Scholastic  philosophy. The law of gravity is obviously something. Secondly, how can a law of physics, such as gravity, create anything? A scientific law is descriptive of the universe. This presupposes a universe that exists and is capable of description in the first place. Descriptions have no causal power. The laws of mathematics tell me 100 + 100= 200. I would be a fool to think if I have $100, and put it in my dresser drawer, the law of arithmetic will somehow cause my money to increase by $100.

Hawking's statement that "the universe can and will create itself out of nothing," is self-contradictory nonsense. It is a logical axiom known by all that "out of nothing, nothing comes." Many times when scientists speak of "nothing" they mean a quantum vacuum. Again, a quantum vacuum is not non-being, it is something! So the universe (which is something) was created by "nothing" which he identifies as gravity, and gravity is something, not non-being. The very statement is self-contradictory; the universe creating itself presupposes the universe had existence in order to give itself existence (if your head is spinning with all this illogic, it should be!). Poor Dr. Hawking isn't doing too well in making a case for a "self-creating universe."

 Kinds of Causation

 In Neo-Scholastic philosophy, we distinguish four kinds of causes, first expounded by Aristotle. 

1.  Material Cause. Think of a statue of The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The material cause would be, for example, marble. It's the material stuff out of which things are made. 

2. Formal Cause. This would be the image carved in the marble of the Sacred Heart. It tells us what the object is. 

3. Efficient Cause. This would be the sculptor. It is that by which the effect is produced.

4. Final Cause. That for the sake of which the activity is performed. In this case, to foster love and devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. 

(See An Introduction to Philosophy, by Fr. Daniel J. Sullivan, The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, [1957], pg. 194)

 Hawking reduces all causes to material and formal causes, as scientists want to know what things are; this is the basis of experimentation. However, it would be ridiculous to think that a statue of the Sacred Heart appeared that way without a sculptor (efficient cause) and for no reason (final cause).  Since science cannot by its very nature of inquiry, answer questions pertaining to efficient or final causes, questions like "Why do we exist?" are not within the realm of the competence of science. Many scientists believe that only physics, chemistry, etc,  can answer questions about the world, therefore they will either dismiss the questions or answer on an atheistic point of view. Hawking claims God does not exist, nor are there any spiritual entities. The belief in life after death, he says, is a "fairy story for people afraid of the dark." And again, "We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special." Hawking believes we are devoid of purpose and have no Creator because of the limitations of science to answer metaphysical questions. 

Does God Need A Creator?

 Hawking has rejected God as Creator. Inevitably, people who so reject God somehow find the idea of "nothing creating something" as more intellectually satisfying than God Who always Is ("I AM WHO AM"). Someone will always ask, "who created God?" If the clear and convincing evidence points to God (which it does and I cannot go into it in a short post), then it must be so. 

Once I had a bad case of vomiting and diarrhea. Every few weeks, I would get another episode. I went to my beloved family doctor, who sent me for all kinds of tests, which revealed nothing. I went to specialists who were perplexed. Finally, a brilliant gastroenterologist asked me a strange question; "Have you ever been to a river in Africa?" I assured him that I had not. He thought I might have a rare bacteria (found in the Dark Continent) in my colon that would only respond to a certain powerful drug. I took the drug and was cured! I asked him how I got the bacteria. His response was, "I don't know, but who cares? You're better, so we got to the cause." Just because we can't explain the origin of the bacteria doesn't mean that it wasn't the cause of my illness. Likewise, even if we can't explain God's existence, that doesn't mean He didn't create the universe. 

 Hawking's Strange Views

 God seems needless and irrational to Dr. Hawking, but just like the "Raelian scientists" I wrote about last week, he seems to be fascinated (and frightened) by extraterrestrial life. Hawking claims he is more certain than ever that highly evolved aliens exist, but we shouldn't make contact. 

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has once again opened up about his fears and warned the world to be hesitant about making contact with alien life. He said planet Gliese 832c potentially had alien life but said humans needed to be wary."One day, we might receive a signal from a planet like this, but we should be wary of answering back," he in the documentary, Stephen Hawking’s Favourite Places. "Meeting an advanced civilization could be like Native Americans encountering Columbus. That didn’t turn out so well." He claimed alien life could be "rapacious marauders roaming the cosmos in search of resources to plunder, and planets to conquer and colonize". His fears have not changed since he first spoke out about it on the Discovery Channel in 2010. He said as he grew older he became more convinced humans were not alone. "After a lifetime of wondering, I am helping to lead a new global effort to find out," he said.

(See http://www.foxnews.com/science/2017/07/28/stephen-hawking-is-deathly-afraid-aliens.html). 

Hawking also claims that "global warming" necessitates looking for another planet where we can all go and live (maybe with the aliens who colonize us?). 

Conclusion

God and science do not conflict when rightly understood. You cannot answer metaphysical questions by the scientific method. Hopefully, Dr. Hawking will realize that the answer to the "Theory of Everything," i.e., the cause and purpose of the Universe, lies in God. Then maybe he will find the true Faith before he dies. Unfortunately, because of his intelligence and prestige, many will think that atheism is the only rational worldview. People would do well to remember the words of Justice Scalia, "Don't think anyone is immune from making stupid arguments..."

I'll end with the following anecdote. In France, at the end of the 19th century, a young scientist was on a train seated next to an elderly gentleman praying the Rosary silently. The young scientist couldn't contain himself. He said, "Pardon me, sir. I can't help but notice those superstitious beads you use to pray." "Superstitious?" responded the old gentleman with shock. "Yes. You must understand that science has shown us there is no God." The old man still looking shocked said, "There isn't a God?" "No. I'm a scientist, and I know this to be true. I realize that you're old and were raised to believe in these things but they're just made-up stories and nonsense. You wouldn't understand the latest scientific theories, like me, but if you'd like I can send you some literature written in simple language so you'll understand that God, Rosaries, and Catholicism are all superstition and not real." "I would like that very much," said the frail older gentleman, still clutching his beloved Rosary.  "Great, please give me your address, so I can mail it to you."  The gentleman put down his Rosary and took out a business card, handing it to the young scientist. "This has my name and address on it."

As the young scientist read the card, a shiver went down his spine. He hung his head in shame, left his seat, and never came back to that seat for the rest of the trip. And who could blame him? The card read, "Dr. Louis Pasteur."