The
attributes of the universe which have hitherto been discovered by science point
to the existence of God.
Science
leads us to the conclusion that the universe has a Creator and this Creator is
perfect in might, wisdom and knowledge. It is religion that shows us the way in
knowing God.
It is
therefore possible to say that science is a method we use to better see and
investigate the realities addressed by religion.
Nevertheless,
today, some of the scientists who step forth in the name of science take an
entirely different stand. In their view, scientific discoveries do not imply
the creation of God.
They
have, on the contrary, projected an atheistic understanding of science by
saying that it is not possible to reach God through scientific data: they claim
that science and religion are two clashing notions.
As a
matter of fact, this atheistic understanding of science is quite recent. Until
a few centuries ago, science and religion were never thought to clash with each
other, and science was accepted as a method of proving the existence of God.
The
so-called atheistic understanding of science flourished only after the
materialist and positivist philosophies swept through the world of science in
the 18th and 19th centuries.
Particularly
after Charles Darwin postulated the theory of evolution in 1859, circles
holding a materialistic world view started to ideologically defend this theory,
which they looked upon as an alternative to religion.
The
theory of evolution argued that the universe was not created by a creator but
came into being by chance. As a result, it was asserted that religion was in
conflict with science. The British researchers Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh
and Henry Lincoln said on this issue:
For Isaac
Newton, a century and a half before Darwin, science was not separate from
religion but, on the contrary, an aspect of religion, and ultimately
subservient to it.
... But
the science of Darwin’s time became precisely that, divorcing itself from the
context in which it had previously existed and establishing itself as a rival
absolute, an alternative repository of meaning.
As a
result, religion and science were no longer working in concert, but rather
stood opposed to each other, and humanity was increasingly forced to choose
between them. (Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Henry Lincoln, “The Messianic
Legacy”, Gorgi Books, London: 1991, p. 177-178.)
As we stated before, the so-called split between science and religion
was totally ideological. Some scientists, who earnestly believed in
materialism, conditioned themselves to prove that the universe had no creator
and they devised various theories in this context.
The theory of evolution was the most famous and the most important of
them. In the field of astronomy as well certain theories were developed such as
the “steady-state theory” or the “chaos theory”.
However, all of these theories that denied creation were demolished by
science itself, as we have clearly shown in other articles.
Today, scientists who still keep to these theories and insist on denying
all things religious, are dogmatic and bigoted people, who have conditioned
themselves not to believe in God.
The famous English zoologist and evolutionist D.M.S. Watson confesses to
this dogmatism as he explains why he and his colleagues accept the theory of
evolution:
“If so,
it will present a parallel to the theory of evolution itself, a theory
universally accepted, not because it can be proved by logically coherent
evidence to be true, but because the only alternative, special creation, is
clearly incredible.” (D.M.S. Watson, “Adaptation”, Nature, no. 124, p. 233)
What Watson means by “special creation” is God’s creation. As
acknowledged, this scientist finds this “unacceptable”. But why does he? Is it
because science says so? Actually it does not.
On the contrary, science proves the truth of creation. The only reason
why Watson looks upon this fact as unacceptable is because he has conditioned
himself to deny the existence of God. All other evolutionists take the same
stand.
Evolutionists rely not on science but on materialist philosophy and they
distort science to make it agree with this philosophy. A geneticist, and an
outspoken evolutionist from Harvard University, Richard Lewontin, confesses to
this truth:
“It is
not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a
material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are
forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of
investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no
matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated.
Moreover,
that materialism is absolute, so we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.”
(Richard Levontin, The Demon-Haunted World, The New York Review of Books, January,
9, 1997, p. 28)
On the other hand, today, just as in history, there are, as opposed to
this dogmatic materialist group, scientists who confirm God’s existence, and
regard science as a way of knowing Him.
Some trends developing in the USA such as “Creationism” or “Intelligent
Design” prove by scientific evidence that all living things were created by
God.
Religious
Scientists
This shows us that science and religion are not conflicting sources of
information, but that, on the contrary, science is a method that verifies the
absolute truths provided by religion.
The clash between religion and science can only hold true for certain
religions that incorporate some superstitious elements as well as divine
sources.
However, this is certainly out of the question for Islam, which relies
only on the pure revelation of God. Moreover, Islam particularly advocates
scientific enquiry, and announces that probing the universe is a method to
explore the creation of God.
The following verse of the Quran addresses this issue:
“Do they
not look at the sky above them? How We have built it and adorned it, and there
are no rifts therein? And the earth - We have spread it out, and set thereon
mountains standing firm, and caused it to bring forth plants of beauteous kinds
(in pairs). An insight and a Reminder for every slave who turns to God. And We
send down from the sky blessed water whereby We give growth unto gardens and
the grain of crops. And tall palm-trees, with shoots of fruit-stalks, piled one
over another.” (Quran 50:6-10)
As the above verses imply, the Quran always urges people to think, to
reason and to explore everything in the world in which they live. This is
because science supports religion, saves the individual from ignorance, and
causes him to think more consciously; it opens wide one’s world of thought and
helps one grasp the signs of God self-evident in the universe. Prominent German
physicist Max Planck said:
“Anybody
who has been seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind realizes that
over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words:
Ye must have faith. It is a quality which the scientist cannot dispense with.”
(J. De Vries, Essential of Physical Science, Wm.B.Eerdmans Pub.Co., Grand
Rapids, SD 1958, p. 15.)
All the issues we have treated so far simply put it that the existence
of the universe and all living things cannot be explained by coincidences. Many
scientists who have left their mark on the world of science have confirmed, and
still confirm this great reality.
The more people learn about the universe, the higher does their
admirations for its flawless order become. Every newly-discovered detail
supports creation in an unquestionable way.
The great majority of modern physicists accept the fact of creation as
we set foot in the 21st century. David Darling also maintains that neither
time, nor space, nor matter, nor energy, nor even a tiny spot or a cavity
existed at the beginning.
A slight quick movement and a modest quiver and fluctuation occurred. Darling
ends by saying that when the cover of this cosmic box was opened, the tendrils
of the miracle of creation appeared from beneath it.
Besides, it is already known that almost all the founders of diverse
scientific branches believed in God and His divine books. The greatest
physicists in history, Newton, Faraday, Kelvin and Maxwell are a few examples
of such scientists.
In the time of Isaac Newton, the great physicist, scientists believed
that the movements of the heavenly bodies and planets could be explained by
different laws.
Nevertheless, Newton believed that the creator of earth and space was
the same, and therefore they had to be explained by the same laws. He said:
“This
most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from
the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being. This Being
governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all, and on
account of His dominion. He is wont to be called Lord God, Universal Ruler.”
(“Principia”)
As is evident, thousands of scientists who have been doing research in
the fields of physics, mathematics, and astronomy since the Middle-Ages all
agree on the idea that the universe is created by a single Creator and always
focus on the same point.
The founder of physical astronomy, Johannes Kepler, stated his strong
belief in God in one of his books where he wrote:
“Since we
astronomers are priests of the highest God in regard to the book of nature, it
befits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above
all else, of the glory of God.” (Dan Graves, Scientists of Faith, p. 51)
The great physicist, William Thompson (Lord Kelvin), who established
thermo-dynamics on a formal scientific basis, was also a Christian who believed
in God.
He had strongly opposed Darwin’s theory of evolution and totally
rejected it. In 1903, short before his death, he made the unequivocal statement
that:
“With
regard to the origin of life, science... positively affirms creative power.”
(David Darling, Deep Time, Delacorte Press, 1989, New York.)
One of the professors of physics at Oxford University, Robert Mattheus
states the same fact in his book published in 1992 where he explains that DNA
molecules were created by God.
Mattheus says that all these stages proceed in a perfect harmony from a
single cell to a living baby, then to a little child, and finally to an
adolescent. All these events can be explained only by a miracle, just as in all
the other stages of biology.
Mattheus asks how such a perfect and complex organism can emerge from such
a simple and tiny cell and how a glorious human is created from a cell even
smaller than the dot on the letter ‘I’. He finally concludes that this is
nothing short of a miracle. (Robert Matthews, Unraveling the Mind of God,
London Bridge, July, 1995, p.8)
Some other scientists who admit that the universe is created by a
Creator and who are known by their cited attributes are:
- · Robert Boyle (the father of modern chemistry)
- · Iona William Petty (known for his studies on statistics and modern economy)
- · Michael Faraday (one of the greatest physicists of all times)
- · Gregory Mendel (the father of genetics; he invalidated Darwinism with his discoveries in the science of genetics)
- · Louis Pasteur (the greatest name in bacteriology; he declared war on Darwinism)
- · John Dalton (the father of atomic theory)
- · Blaise Pascal (one of the most important mathematicians)
- · John Ray (the most important name in British natural history)
- · Nicolaus Steno (a famous stratigrapher who investigated earth layers)
- · Carolus Linnaeus (the father of biological classification)
- · Georges Cuvier (the founder of comparative anatomy)
- · Matthew Maury (the founder of oceanography)
- · Thomas Anderson (one the pioneers in the field of organic chemistry)
Source: www.islamreligion.com
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