Science & The New Atheists

Science & The New Atheists Dr. Heinz Lycklama heinz@osta.com www.osta.com/messages “Religion has run out of justifications. Thanks to the telescope and the microscope, it no longer offers an explanation of anything important.” Christopher Hitchens “… is the apparent grand design of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motion – or does science offer another explanation?” The Grand Design

Science and The New Atheists • The New Atheism • Science and Knowledge • Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design (ID) • Darwin, Dawkins & Design:Dawkins’ Claims • Telling If Something Is Designed • Stephen Hawking’s Grand Design • In Conclusion @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

1. The New Atheism • Atheist writers of the 21st century • Religion • Is based on blind faith • Poisons everything • Religion should: • Not be tolerated • Be countered and criticized • Be exposed by rational arguments • Recent scientific advancements • Less accommodating attitude towardreligion, superstition, religious fanaticism @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

The Books • By The New Atheists • The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins • The Greatest Show on Earth, Dawkins • The Grand Design, Stephen Hawking • By Christian Apologists • God’s Undertaker, John Lennox • Gunning For God, John Lennox • The Greatest Hoax on Earth, Jonathan Sarfati • God and Stephen Hawking, John Lennox @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

2. Science and Knowledge • Evolution explains everything • Origin of the universe • Origin of first life • Complex life forms • There is no need for God • No scientific evidence for God • Richard Dawkins • “God almost certainly does not exist” • Darwinian natural selection explains the “illusion of design” in living things • Multi-verse theory explains our universe @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Limitations of Science • Science the only way to find truth? • Use of the five senses • Presupposes reliability of 5 senses • Assumes that a real world exists • Science presupposes truth is real • Honesty is a moral virtue • Science limited in scope • Moral laws • Concept of truth • Meaning in life @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

More on Dawkins’ Arguments • All explanations must be physical/natural • No non-physical or supernatural explanations • Ruled out a priori • Scientism biased against supernatural • Validity of human reason required for our knowledge, otherwise can’t trust the conclusions drawn by our reason • If naturalism is true • No way to know it is true • Reason is by chance • No basis for faith in human reason @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

3. Creation, Evolution and ID “A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question.” Charles Darwin • Creation • God created the universe and all life according to its kinds • Evolution • Macro-Evolution • Molecules -> man • Common descent • Intelligent Design (ID) • Information implies an intelligent designer • Irreducible complexity • Specified complexity @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

The Meaning of Evolution Only 1, 2 and 3 have been observed 4 never observed! 5 is impossible! • Artificial Selection • Plant and animal breeding • Change • Evolution of a coastline (random) • Evolution of a car (designed) • Micro-Evolution • Small variation within prescribed limits of complexity • e.g., finch beaks by mutation and natural selection • Macro-Evolution • Particles -> people • Molecular Evolution • Origin of life – assumes a mutating replicator @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Evolution Mechanisms • Natural Selection • Selection of genes/mutations for survival of the fittest • An observable process that supposedly underlies the mechanism of unobservable molecules-to-man evolution • Requires a directional change • Mutations • Result of random copying errors/changes in genes (DNA) • Supposedly source of new traits for Evolution • Genetic information is lost/sorted • Requires predominantly beneficial mutations @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Natural Selection Can Decrease genetic information Allow organisms to survive better in a given environment Act as a “selector” Support Creation’s “orchard” of life Natural Selection Cannot Increase or generate new genetic information Allow organisms to evolve from molecules to man Act as an “originator” Support evolutionary “tree of life” Natural Selection • Selecting information that already exists @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Chance, Necessity (Law) or Design? @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Chance, Necessity or Design? Scratches on cave wall Human genome 3B Base Pairs 20T Cells @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

The Evolutionists’ Response? • “Even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such a hypothesis is excluded from science because it is not naturalistic.” • S.C. Todd, Kansas State University Professor • “Biology is the study of complicated things that have the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.” • Richard Dawkins, Oxford Univ. Atheist Biologist • “Biologists must constantly keepin mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved.” • Francis Crick, Co-discoverer of DNA @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Present +Repeatable +Observable =SCIENCE Past +Non-Repeatable +Eyewitness Account =HISTORY Past +Non-Repeatable +No Eyewitnesses =BELIEF @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Science – Operation & Origin • “Operation” Science • Postulate theory -> make observations -> prove/falsify theory • Using the Scientific Method • “Origins” Science • “Forensic” science • Were you there at the beginning? • Model of Creation • Model of Evolution • Use principles of analogy and causality to determine if a model is plausible • Good science follows the evidence @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Scientific Tests • What we can test scientifically • Observable/repeatable processes • Trends/tendencies in nature • Processes/events that left evidence • What we cannot test scientifically • Identity/motivation of who/whatever broughtthe universe and life into existence • Historical events • Morality • Meaning @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Origins Can’t Be Tested or Proved • Creation cannot be “proved” • Not taking place now (completed) • Not accessible to use of scientific method • Can’t devise experiment to describe Creation process • Evolution cannot be “proved” • If it is taking place, operates too slowly to measure • Transmutation would take millions of years • The scientific method cannot be used to measure it • Small variations in organisms (observed today) are not relevant • Can’t be used to distinguish between Creation & Evolution @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

More on Origin Science • Origin Science uses: • Principle of Analogy posits same kind of cause for a similar effect in the past • Principle of Causality posits that every event much have an adequate cause • Origin science issues: • Origin of the universe & First Cause • Origin of first life & law of biogenesis • Origin of new life forms & fossil record • Chance and natural laws are inadequate causes @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

4. Darwin, Dawkins & Design:Dawkins’ Claims Science can answer all life’s questions Natural Selection accounts for design Evolution must be true Origin of life due to “stroke of luck” Origin of the cell due to “stroke of luck” Consciousness due to “stroke of luck” God’s existence is disproved by science @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

1. Science Can Answer All Life’s Questions • The assumption of Scientism • All knowledge comes through science • No place for supernatural explanation • The truth is: • Scientism is self-defeating • e.g. “there are no absolutes” (an absolute statement!) • “Science is the only way to arrive at truth” • Does Dawkins know this by scientific method? • No, it is a philosophical statement @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Science, Philosophy, Religion Overlap • What you believe in one area relatesto foundational ideas in other areas • Overlapping realms of knowledge • Science answers certain questions • What does this orange weigh? • What chemical components make up this? • Philosophy answer other questions • Why is there something rather than nothing? • Does God exist? • Religion answers some other questions • What is God like? • How can we relate to God? @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

2. Natural Selection Accounts for Design • Dawkins’ claim: • Natural selection accounts for the “apparent design” in life • “Consider it climbed” • The reality is: • Dawkins substitutes stories for facts • Climbing Mount Improbable, one small step at a time • Natural selection is a cumulative process • Consider the human eye … @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Real Story is Much More Complicated • Research in genetics, cell biology, biochemistry has shown • Sophistication and astounding level of detail now known • Darwin’s Black Box by Michael Behe • Sight requires irreducible complexity • All parts must work together • Dawkins’ explanation too simplistic • Focuses on gross anatomy of the eye • Does not explain nuts and bolts of sight @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

3. Evolution Must Be True • “Evolution is a fact” • It must be true because we are here • “However improbable the origin of lifemight be, we know it happened on Earth because we are here” • Circular reasoning • “We know we are here because we are here” • The truth is: • Life only comes from pre-existing life • The Law of Biogenesis never disproven • Louis Pasteur in 1860 • Miller’s experiment in 1953 @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

4. “Origin of Life” Claim • Dawkins claims a stroke of luck! • “We can deal with the unique origin of life by postulating a very large number of planetary opportunities. Once that initial stroke of luck has been granted – and the anthropic principle most decisively grants it to us – natural selection takes over.” • Appeal to ignorance or pure speculation • “Stroke of luck” isn’t scientific • Dawkins postulates a large numberof earth-like planets • An assertion not scientifically verified • “Given enough changes, anything can happen.” • Not a valid claim – some things will never happen! @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Earth Unique As a Home For Life • Anthropic principle • Just Six Numbers, Martin Rees • 100+ unique physical constants • The Privileged Planet, Gonzales & Richards • Earth uniquely situated to sustain complex life • Earth uniquely situated to observe the universe • The multiverse as an explanation? • There Is a God, Antony Flew • “So multiverse or not, we still have to come to terms with the origin of the laws of nature. And the only viable explanation here is the divine Mind.” @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

5. “Origin of the Cell” Claim • Another stroke of luck! • “Nevertheless, it may be that the origin of life is not the only major gap in the evolutionary story that is bridged by sheer luck, anthropically justified … The origin of the eukaryotic cell … was an even more momentous, difficult and statistically improbable step than the origin of life.” Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion • Another appeal to ignorance • The truth – DNA is a biotic message • “I love Pat” written in the sand takes an intelligent source, not wind and waves • “The problem of how meaningful or semantic information can emerge spontaneously from a collection of mindless molecules subject to blind and purposeless forces presents a deep conceptual challenge.” Paul Davies @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

6. “Origin of Consciousness” Claim • Another stroke of luck! • “The origin of consciousness might be another major gap whose bridging was of the same order of improbability. … And of these a yet smaller fraction managed to cross the later Rubicon to consciousness.” • Another appeal to ignorance • No idea how consciousness could come from unconscious molecules – sure lucky it did! • The truth • You can’t get mind from mindless molecules • Mindless molecules do not produce a rational mind • You can’t get something (mind) from nothing (no mind) @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

7. “Science Disproves God” Claim • Dawkins argues from naturalism “ … the existence of God is a scientific hypothesis like any other … God’s existence or non-existence is a scientific fact about the universe, discoverable in principle if not in practice.” • An appeal to reductionism • Everything in the universe can be reduced to laws of physics and chemistry • No reason to assume that our minds accurately reflect the external world • You are simply an arrangement of molecules in motion • Our thoughts are just chemical reactions @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Reductionism Destroys Rationality Charles Darwin, Origin of Species “With me, the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy.” John Polkinghorne, British particle physicist and theologian “Reductionism destroys rationality. Thought is replaced by electro-chemical neural events. Two such events cannot confront each other in rational discourse. They are neither right or wrong. They simply happen … The world of rational discourse dissolves into the absurd chatter of firing synapses. Quite frankly, that cannot be right and none of us believes it to be so.” @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Christianity & Modern Science • Modern science originated in Christianity • Belief system that supported the scientific method • Universe is governed by laws -> Lawgiver • Isaac Newton: “This most beautiful system of sun, planets and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.” • The universe is knowable to our minds -> Rational Mind • Johannes Kepler: “The chief aim of all investigations of the external world should be to discover the rational order that hasbeen imposed on it by God.” • “Thinking God’s thoughts after Him.” @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Knowledge and Science • Definition of science dependson philosophical assumptions • Science depends on philosophy/worldview • Should we interpret scientific observations only through the dogma of naturalism? • Use scientific method to detect design? • Yes, for sciences that infer intelligent causes – Archaeology, Forensic science, SETI project • Scientific inferences, e.g. atoms (not seen) inferred from observations that we do see @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Complexity In Nature • Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker “Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.” “The physicist’s problem is the problem of ultimate origins and ultimate natural laws. The biologist’s problem is the problem of complexity.” “We animals are the most complicated things in the known universe.” • Can natural laws/processes/reactions account for the intricate complexity displayed in all living organisms? @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

5. Telling If Something Is Designed • Irreducible complexityshows design • Mouse trap, with its 5 parts • Molecular machines, “all or nothing” functionality,e.g. bacterium flagellum • Specified complexityshows design • Information demands intelligence • DNA • Inner workings of the cell @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Design Inference • Inference of design -> intelligent source • Our experience tells us all manmade information systems and complex machines have an intelligent origin • Therefore we infer that biological systems also require an intelligent source • Following where the evidence leads requires a designer to account for: • Biological information • Irreducible complexity • Specified complexity @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

6. Stephen Hawking’s Grand Design • New answers to the ultimate questionsof life offered by Hawking & Mlodinow • How can we understand our world? • How does the universe behave? • What is the nature of reality? • Where did all this come from? • Does the universe need a creator? • Hawking’s “why” questions • Why is there something ratherthan nothing? • Why do we exist? • Why this particular set of lawsand not some other? @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

The Grand Design The Mystery of Being The Rule of Law What is Reality? Alternative Histories The Theory of Everything Choosing Our Universe The Apparent Miracle The Grand Design @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Hawking’s Conjectures • Philosophy is dead • Modern science has bypassed it • Recent advances in theoretical physics • New answers suggested by recent discoveries • New picture of the universe and our place in it • Very different from the traditional picture • Hawking invokes M-theory (Theory of Everything) • Multiple universes arise naturally from physical law • They are a prediction of science • Only a few universes can support life @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

God and Stephen Hawking • Book by John Lennox • The big questions • God or the laws of nature? • God or the multiverse? • Whose design is it anyway? • Science and rationality • Stephen Hawking • The laws of physics themselves brought the universe into being • John Lennox • Hawking’s arguments make a Creator God’s existence all the more probable @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Answering Hawking • Hawking has an inadequate view of philosophy, of God, and of science • “Philosophy is dead” – logically incoherent • Confuses God with “the gods” andthus rejects both • Regards atheism as a prerequisite for science • God is not a “God of the gaps” butthe author of the whole show • Hawking substitutes multiverse for powerful evidence of design • Laws of physics brought universeinto existence • Rejects Anthropic Principle @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Hawking’s Confusion • Between physical law and personal agent • A choice between false alternatives • God is the personal agent (Creator) • Physical laws are descriptive and predictive, but they do not create • Between 4 different causes/explanations: (Aristotle’s 4 “levels of explanations”) • Material – the raw material • Formal – concept, plan, blueprint • Efficient – designer, engineer • Ultimate purpose – travel faster • God is excluded from the explanation by Hawking’s worldview, not by science @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Science and Rationality • Christianity’s theme • The universe was built accordingto a rational, intelligent design • Hawking’s & Crick’s thinking • “ …we human beings are nothing but mere collections of fundamental particles of nature.” • There is a deep conflict between science & religion • Darwin’s Doubt • “ … whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy.” @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Rational Intelligent Faith • Based on cumulative evidence of science: • Laws of nature (normal), fine-tuned constants of nature, rational intelligibility of universe • Miracles (not normal) performed by God,the Lawgiver, are recognized as abnormal • Established by “inductive inference” • Based on cumulative evidence of : • History, e.g. Christ’s resurrection • Scripture, e.g. confirmed by archaeology, prophecy, history, geography • Personal experience, e.g. morality, conscience • Established by “abductive inference”,i.e. inference to the best explanation @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

7. In Conclusion • Science is possible because of the laws of nature • Origin of the universe requires a Designer • Origin of first life form requires a Designer • Origin of new life forms requires a Designer • Intelligent Design (ID) is science • Universe was built according to a rational design • Our faith is based on the cumulative evidence of scripture, science, history, and personal experience • God is the Grand Designer • The New Atheists Don’t Have a Case! @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

The New Atheists Don’t Have a Case! Thank you for your attention! “One of the fundamental themes of Christianity is that the universe was built according to a rational, intelligent design.” John Lennox Dr. Heinz Lycklama heinz@osta.com www.osta.com www.osta.com/messages @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Some Reference Books • God Is Not Great. How Religion Poisons Everything, Christopher Hitchens • God Is. How Christianity Explains Everything, Douglas Wilson • Letter to a Christian Nation, Sam Harris • Letter from a Christian Citizen, Douglas Wilson • The God Delusion, Dr. Richard Dawkins • The Deluded Atheist, Douglas Wilson • The Atheist Delusion, Phil Fernandes • The Return of the Village Atheist, Joel McDurmon • Gunning For God. Why The New Atheists Are Missing The Target, Dr. John Lennox • More Than a Carpenter, Josh & Sean McDowell • The Grand Design, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow • God and Stephen Hawking, Dr. John Lennox @ Dr. Heinz Lycklama

Science & The New Atheists