Religious interpretations of the Big Bang theory

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In the imagination of the general public and scholars, many religious interpretations of the Big Bang theory of physical cosmology have been offered. The Big Bang itself is a scientific theory, and as such stands or falls by its agreement with observations. But as a theory which addresses, or at least seems to address, creation itself, it has always been entangled with theological and philosophical implications. In the 1920s and '30s almost every major cosmologist preferred an eternal universe, and several complained that the beginning of time implied by the Big Bang imported religious concepts into physics; this objection was later repeated by supporters of the steady state theory.[1] This perception was enhanced by the fact that the theory's inventor, Georges Lemaître, was a Roman Catholic priest.

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[edit] Christian and Jewish views

Lemaître himself always insisted that as a physical theory, the Big Bang has no religious implications; and yet the congruence between his scientific and religious beliefs is apparent in his famous description of the beginning of the universe as "a day without yesterday"—alluding to the creation account in Genesis. George Gamow had no compunction in describing the graphs of conditions in the Big Bang as "divine creation curves", and sent a copy of his book The Creation of the Universe to the Pope; yet even he favoured an oscillating model in which the Big Bang was not a literal beginning. To this day, many people's reactions to the Big Bang theory, both positive and negative, are influenced by how well it can be harmonised with their religious and philosophical world views.

Some interpretations of the Big Bang theory go beyond science, and some purport to explain the cause of the Big Bang itself (first cause). These views have been criticized by some naturalist philosophers as being modern creation myths. Some people believe that the Big Bang theory is inconsistent with traditional views of creation such as that in Genesis, for example, while others, like astronomer and old Earth creationist Hugh Ross, believe that the Big Bang theory lends support to the idea of creation ex nihilo ("out of nothing").[2]

A number of Christian and traditional Jewish sources have accepted the Big Bang as a possible description of the origin of the universe, interpreting it to allow for a philosophical first cause. In particular, Pope Pius XII was an enthusiastic proponent of the Big Bang even before the theory was scientifically well-established,[3][4] and consequently the Roman Catholic Church has been a prominent advocate for the idea that creation ex nihilo can be interpreted as consistent with the Big Bang. This view is shared by many religious Jews in all branches of rabbinic Judaism. Some groups contend the Big Bang is also consistent with the teaching of creation according to Kabbalah.[5]

[edit] Islamic view

The Quran reads:

"Are then, they who are bent on denying the truth not aware that the heavens and the earth were [once] one single entity, which We then parted asunder? [That] We made out of water every living thing? Will they not, then, [begin to] believe?" (Sura 21, Al-Anbiyaa, Ayah 30)

"And it is We who have built the universe with [Our creative] power; and, verily, it is We who are steadily expanding it." (Sura 51, Ayah 47)

[6][7]

[edit] Taoist view

A suggestion of a Big Bang can also be found in Taoism, a branch of Chinese philosophy. The first verse of the Tao Te Ching is:

"… It was from the Nameless that Heaven and Earth sprang; The named is but the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures, each after its kind."[8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kragh, Helge (1996). Cosmology and Controversy. Princeton University Press. ISBN 069100546X. 
  2. ^ Ross, Hugh. Putting the Big Bang to the Test. Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
  3. ^ Pius XII (1952). "Modern Science and the Existence of God". The Catholic Mind 49: 182–192. 
  4. ^ Lemaître protested, objecting to religious endorsement of any scientific theory, even his own. See Kragh (1996): 258.
  5. ^ The Kabbalah Centre. Adam and Atom. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.
  6. ^ Ibrahim B. Syed. The Big Bang Theory: From a Qur'anic Perspective.
  7. ^ A. Abd-Allah, The Qur'an, Knowledge, and Science, University of Southern California.
  8. ^ Taoism and Cosmology. Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
  • Leeming, David Adams, and Margaret Adams Leeming, A Dictionary of Creation Myths. Oxford University Press (1995), ISBN 0-19-510275-4.
  • Pius XII (1952), "Modern Science and the Existence of God," The Catholic Mind 49:182–192.
  • Ahmad, Mirza Tahir, Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth Islam International Publications Ltd (1987), ISBN 1-85372-640-0. The Quran and Cosmology