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About Magis Center
"Magis" (pronounced mah-jis) in
Latin means "more." In some
contexts it can mean "the even
more" – the furthest
frontier – frontiers of
reason, knowledge, the universe,
and reality itself.
Our Mission: To explore and
share the close connection
between reason and faith as
revealed by new discoveries in
physics and philosophy.
MCRF'S GOAL: To bring to light all current developments in faith and reason through multiple vehicles of communication, such as, new media, on-line lecture series and college courses, documentaries, high school curricula, adult ed programs, videocasts, podcasts, books, articles, fact sheets, and on-line encyclopedias.
Is There Really Evidence for God from Physics?
In the last ten to fifteen years,
implications of transcendence in
physics, philosophy of
mathematics, and metaphysics have
become more pronounced. Indeed,
no other decade in history has
revealed more or better evidence
for God. So, what is this
evidence?
In physics, there are
several recent, major discoveries
pointing to a beginning and
creation of the universe by a
transcendent source. Three
discoveries are very significant
here:
- The
likelihood that our universe
is inflationary.
As will be explained in the
website, the classical Big
Bang model did not account for
a hyper accelerating initial
moment of the universe. Alan
Guth theorized that such a
moment would solve a large
number of unanswered questions
and problems in the classical
model. Most astrophysicists
and cosmologists today believe
that our universe had an
inflationary period, which is
important because all
inflationary model universes,
according to the
Borde-Guth-Vilenkin theorem,
have a beginning of past time
which implies a creation.
- The
strong implication that
inflationary universes have a
beginning of time.
- The
extremely high improbability
that our universe would be
able to sustain any kind of
life form without
extraordinarily complex
fine-tuning.
As will be explained in the
website, a constant is a fixed
quantity which gives
quantitative parameters to the
equations of physics (for
example Planck's constant, h,
the speed of light constant,
c, the gravitational constant,
G, the weak force constant,
gw, the strong force constant,
gs, etc.)These fixed
quantities govern the laws of
physics, and determine what
kind of universe will result
from an initial singularity.
These constants are necessary
so that the laws of physics
will be consistent over the
course of time, which is
needed for any evolutionary
process (if the laws of
physics changed every few
moments, evolutionary
processes would be
impossible). The fact that
there are any constants at all
is truly remarkable, and the
fact that these constants have
values which will allow for a
universe capable of sustaining
any life form is even more
remarkable. Indeed, it is
exceedingly, exceedingly
improbable. This exceedingly
high improbability has been
articulated by Roger Penrose,
Brandon Carter, William
Fowler, Fred Hoyle, Paul
Davies, and many others
between 1988 to
2005.
As
you will see in this website, if
you put all this evidence
together, it strongly leads to
the conclusion that the universe
was created by a trans-universal
(supernatural) power. The
evidence also indicates that this
trans-universal power is
exceedingly intelligent. Fred
Hoyle, one of the world's most
prominent astrophysicists, who
was an ardent atheist, completely
changed his mind about God when
he examined some of this
evidence. Hoyle declared:
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Would
you
not
say to
yourself,
"Some
super-calculating
intellect
must
have
designed
the
properties
of the
carbon
atom,
otherwise
the
chance
of my
finding
such
an
atom
through
the
blind
forces
of
nature
would
be
utterly
miniscule?"
Of
course
you
would....
A
common
sense
interpretation
of the
facts
suggests
that a
superintellect
has
monkeyed
with
physics,
as
well
as
with
chemistry
and
biology,
and
that
there
are no
blind
forces
worth
speaking
about
in
nature.
The
numbers
one
calculates
from
the
facts
seem
to me
so
overwhelming
as to
put
this
conclusion
almost
beyond
question.
(Fred
Hoyle.
"The
Universe:
Past
and
Present
Reflections."
Engineering
and
Science,
November,
1981.
pp.
8-12)
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Yet, in the midst of this
mounting evidence, popular
agnosticism (uncertainty about
the existence of God) seems to be
increasing, particularly in North
America. This might be attributed
to the personalities and media
presence of certain popular
atheists. However, when one
considers that they almost
completely neglect all the
above-mentioned evidence in their
emotive denunciation of religion,
we must ask why this evidence has
not come to light from other
sources. Perhaps it is ignorance
of the above-mentioned evidence
or perhaps a culpable
unwillingness to acknowledge it.
In either case, it is giving rise
to a false impression about the
dichotomy between faith and
science.
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