1. Does God exist?

2. What’s new?
 If you go to your school every day and every day it
looks the same do you think much about it?

5. What’s new?
 Where did it come from? Who made it? Why is it here?
 How much do we notice the world in which we live?
 Do we take the world for granted?
 “The aspects of things that are most important for us
are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity”
Ludwig Wittgenstein

6. Existence
 If something has always existed we don’t need to explain it –
where it came from or who made it.
 If the universe has always existed we don’t need to explain
its existence.
 “If we say that God has always been, why not save a step
and conclude that the universe has always been?”
Carl Sagan, Cosmos, 1980
 Has the universe always existed?
 Up until 1950s scientists believed the universe had always
existed – ‘Steady State Theory of the Universe’

7. Discovering the beginning
Edwin Hubble discovered galaxies are moving away
from each other (1920s)
 The universe is expanding
 Red shift
 Like a balloon inflating, all the parts are moving away
from each other

9. Discovering the beginning
Edwin Hubble discovered galaxies are moving away
from each other (1920s)
 The universe is expanding
 Like a balloon inflating, all the parts are moving away
from each other
 Therefore they must originally have started from the
same place
 Therefore the universe had a beginning

10. Cosmic background radiation
 In 1963 a constant
radio background
source that was
spread all over the
universe was
discovered
 It was a relic or echo
from the Big Bang

11. The Big Bang
13.8 billion years ago
Singularity
 Infinitely small
 Infinitely dense
 Infinitely hot
Many scientists were not happy
with the idea of the universe
having a beginning as it
suggested the need for ‘God’

12. The expanding universe

13. What happened at the Big Bang?
Time
Space
Time and space
started with the
Big Bang
Universe appeared with
time, not in time
So there was no
‘before’ the Big Bang
Big Bang

14. Big Bang implies God
“Science could predict
that the universe must
have had a beginning,
but it could not predict
how the universe
should begin: for that
one would have to
appeal to God.”
Stephen Hawking 1988

15. It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists.
Ludwig Wittgenstein

16. What would you expect from a Big Bang?
 Chaos
 Disorder
 Randomness
 Ugliness
What is the universe like?
• Cosmos
• Orderly
• Complexity
• Beauty

17. How does one explain this?
What were the initial conditions at the
Big Bang?

18. It had to be a smooth beginning
It was smooth - If
the Big Bang was
too ragged the result
would have been
turbulence and a
cosmos of black
holes. The chance of
a smooth beginning
is 1 in 1010 123
Ragged beginning

19. It had to be a smooth beginning
It was smooth - If
the Big Bang was
too ragged the result
would have been
turbulence and a
cosmos of black
holes. The chance of
a smooth beginning
is 1 in 1010 123
Smooth beginning

20. Expansion at a precise speed
If the universe had expanded 1 part in a million
more slowly the universe would have collapsed
within a fraction of a second.
If the universe had expanded 1 part in a million
faster galaxies would never have formed.

21. Nuclear forces . . .
If the weak nuclear force was a bit stronger all matter
would have become helium and heavier elements.
There would be no water and the sun would explode
instead of burning. If it was a bit weaker there would be
only helium since the weak nuclear force makes
neutrons decay into protons.
If the strong nuclear force was 2% stronger quarks
would not turn into protons and there would be no
hydrogen. A 5% weakening would unbind the deuteron
(Proton+Neutron) and there would be no elements
heavier than hydrogen.

22. And electromagnetism . . .
A change of just one part in 1040 would affect star
formation. Slightly stronger and they would be red
stars and too cold. Slightly weaker and they would
be blue, very hot, radioactive and short lived. A
doubled strength would mean 1062 years would be
needed for life to evolve by which time all protons
would have decayed.

23. What is one part in 1040?
The difference between
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0
01
And
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0
00,002

24. The strength of gravity
Gravity is 1039 times weaker than electro-
magnetism. A slight change in this proportion
would prevent the formation of stars. At its precise
strength it was possible for clouds to form stable
stars which do not fragment.

25. Just six numbers
 Suppose that you were the
intended victim of a firing
squad and every bullet missed
you, wouldn't you be inclined
to wonder if something special
had been arranged on your
behalf? Or that somewhere in
the Looking Glass world of
modern physics, there might
be some deeper reason for
the providential value of these
six numbers? And if there
were, would we be smart
enough to see it?
Astronomer Royal, Master Trinity College Cambridge, President Royal Society

26. How do we explain the “fine-
tuning” of the starting
conditions of the universe?
How do we explain why there is a universe
at all?

27. A scientific explanation . . .
“Because there is a law such as gravity, the
Universe can and will create itself from nothing.
Spontaneous creation is the reason there is
something rather than nothing, why the
Universe exists, why we exist.”
Stephen Hawking, The Grand Design, 2011
Why is there gravity?
Is gravity eternal?
Is gravity God?
This doesn’t explain the “fine tuning”
Maybe gravity is an expression of
the Universal Prime Force of God?

28. Hawking again . . .
“The question is: is the way the universe began
chosen by God for reasons we can't
understand, or was it determined by a law of
science? I believe the second. If you like, you
can call the laws of science “God”, but it
wouldn't be a personal God that you could
meet, and ask questions.”
Stephen Hawking, Channel Four, 2011
Assumptions, assumptions, assumptions . . .
Maybe we can know why God created the universe
Why can’t God be personal?

29. Quantum fields created universe
 Total energy of the
universe is zero
 Quantum fields but no
matter – quantum
vacuum
 Quantum fields
unstable
 The universe
appeared as a
quantum fluctuation

30. But . . .
 A quantum vacuum is not “nothing” as it assumes the
existence of quantum fields which create matter
 True “nothing” is no fields
 Otherwise where did the fields come from? Are they
eternal? Are they God?
 Fields are an expression of the Universal Prime
Energy

31. How can we explain this?
 Multiple universes exist and ours just happens to support life
 But there is no evidence for the existence of other universes.
If there were they would be in our universe
 Occam’s razor - among competing hypotheses, the one that
makes the fewest assumptions should be selected
 Even if there are multiple universes still doesn’t explain why
they exist

32. Maybe . . . .
 An intelligent Creator designed the initial
conditions to support the development of
complexity, life and consciousness

33. Which is more likely?
“When I see all the glories of the cosmos, I can’t
help but believe that there is a divine hand
behind it all.”
Einstein
God or chance?

34. How do science and religion
relate to each other?
 Science focuses on
explaining physical
dimension of reality:
How?
 Religion focuses on
explaining spiritual
dimension: Why?

35. How do science and religion
relate to each other?
 Science is about explanation. Religion is about meaning.
Science analyses, religion integrates. Science breaks things
down to their component parts. Religion binds people
together in relationships of trust. Science tells us what is.
Religion tells us what ought to be. Science describes.
Religion beckons, summons, calls. Science sees objects.
Religion speaks to us as subjects. Science practices
detachment. Religion is the art of attachment, self to self,
soul to soul. Science sees the underlying order of the
physical world. Religion hears the music beneath the noise.
Science is the conquest of ignorance. Religion is the
redemption of solitude.”
Jonathan Sacks, The Great Partnership pp. 6-7

36. Where’s the evidence that God
exists?
 What is evidence?
 Do we have evidence for everything we believe exists?
 How about Dark Matter? Dark Energy? The Higgs
particle?
 Need instruments to measure

37. The Large Hadron Collider
Used to detect Higgs Boson particle

38. Largest scientific instrument in
the world - CERN
27 km circumference

39. Is there a God-detector?
 What is the most complex thing in the universe?
The human brain

40. Does it need tuning?
 Like a radio
 How does one tune it?
 Spiritual life
 Prayer, study, meditation
 Practice
 Personal experience
 Mystical
 Numinous
 Conscience
 ‘Coincidence’

41. Father’s words
Although you worship God as the centre of your faith,
your understanding of God, as you know, is very vague.
Then where do you start looking for Him? That question
is of the utmost importance.
Where do you start? Although God is surely in the
centre of your mind, you cannot feel it as clearly as you
feel tangible things with your five physical senses. You
should not start looking into God Himself. You should
look into yourself first.
“Know yourself. He who knows himself will know God.
He who knows God will become like God.”
St. Clement of Alexandria

42.  God said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the
Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a
great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and
breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was
not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the
Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a
fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a
sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his
face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of
the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, ‘What
are you doing here, Elijah?’ 1 Kings
19:11-13

43. Any other evidence?
 Can you see gravity? Can you see God? – see the
effects of gravity and the effects of God
 Study history
 Is there a pattern suggesting there is a ‘force’ guiding
history? – history parallels
 How else does one explain religious experience?
 We need to postulate the existence of God to be able
to give the most complete explanation of the world in
which we live.

44. Conclusion
 One cannot prove or disprove the existence of God
 Richard Dawkins says he is an agnostic who thinks the
existence of God is very unlikely
 Based on the above one could say the existence of
God is very likely

45. Recommended reading
 Paul Davies
 The Mind of God
 Ian Barbour
 John Polkingthorne
 Jonathan Sacks

47.  “Science takes things apart to see how they work.
Religion puts things together to see what they mean.”
The Great Partnership p. 2

48.  Science is about explanation. Religion is about meaning.
Science analyses, religion integrates. Science breaks things
down to their component parts. Religion binds people
together in relationships of trust. Science tells us what is.
Religion tells us what ought to be. Science describes.
Religion beckons, summons, calls. Science sees objects.
Religion speaks to us as subjects. Science practices
detachment. Religion is the art of attachment, self to self,
soul to soul. Science sees the underlying order of the
physical world. Religion hears the music beneath the noise.
Science is the conquest of ignorance. Religion is the
redemption of solitude.”
Jonathan Sacks, The Great Partnership pp. 6-7

50. And life . . .
 It could be that it is extremely difficult to start life. It might be that it is so
difficult to start life that it has happened only once among all the planets. Let
us consider, just as a conjecture, that the chance of life starting when we
have got suitable physical conditions is 10-100. I don't have any logical reason
for proposing this figure, I just want you to consider it as a possibility. Under
those conditions it is almost certain that life would not have started. And I feel
that under those conditions it will be necessary to assume the existence of a
god to start off life. I would like, therefore, to set up this connexion between
the existence of a god and the physical laws: if physical laws are such that to
start off life involves an excessively small chance, so that it will not be
reasonable to suppose that life would have started just by blind chance, then
there must be a god, and such a god would probably be showing his
influence in the quantum jumps which are taking place later on. On the other
hand, if life can start very easily and does not need any divine influence, then
I will say that there is no god.
Paul Dirac, Nobel Laureate, Physics, 1933