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does not undermine and, much less,
eliminate the role and importance of
God in creation. What science has
done is to make known the ingenious
way God has fashioned our fabulous
universe, inviting us even more urgently
to appreciate and admire the wisdom
and power of God. Even if humans one
day become capable of recreating fully
the Big Bang event, the importance of
the uniqueness of the original creation
remains, because what science can
do will only a duplication. Making
a duplicate is a matter of imitation,
whereas making the original involves
originality and creativity.
Creation, as understood
traditionally, involves bringing
something out of nothing, not
transforming something out of what
is already existing. The Creator needs
no raw material to work with. On the
other hand, what science does is to
use matter which has been invested
with incredible capabilities to carry out
certain operations. In the case of the
LHR experiment almost infinite energy
could be produced, because matter has
already been invested with the capability
by the Creator to produce infinite energy
if and when it is enabled to move with
the velocity of light. If matter did not
already possess this incredible capability,
no effort made by science would have
produced the near-Big Bang condition.
Hence science is severely limited by
the raw material available to it and the
capabilities these raw materials possess.
Science’s role is confined to identifying
the capabilities locked up in matter
and making creative and ingenious use
of them.
b. Nature Outsmarting Science
There is another important
consideration also, taken from the
history of science, which cannot be
overlooked. The history of modern
science for the last four centuries
shows that whenever science solves one
mystery of nature with a groundbreaking
discovery, several other puzzles seem
to surface. For instance, When Lord
Rutherford in1910 made his startling
discoveries about the structure of the
atom, many thought that humans had
resolved the puzzling questions of the
structure of the atom. But later history
has shown that it was but a simple and
humble beginning of a whole world of
knowledge and ideas concerning the
atom and material reality. A very similar
situation arose in the world of biology
when Watson and Crick discovered
the structure of DNA in 1953, which
also opened up a plethora of new
puzzles challenging science. Many
such cases can be cited from history.
Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say
that when science successfully resolves
one puzzling mystery of nature, several
other related ones prop up seeking
resolution. Nature seems to be having
an inexhaustible store of mysteries and
puzzles. It seems that nature can never
be outsmarted by human ingenuity. This
is what keeps science going; this is what
makes science an exciting and rewarding
experience. This is what keeps God and
religion alive despite all the breathtaking
breakthroughs to science’s credit.
c. Supporting God and Religion
More specifically, in the case
of the discovery of the God particle
and the developments associated
with it, there is an important positive
development in support of God and
religion. These developments are closely
linked to the Big Bang Theory of Abbe
Georges Lemaitre which was officially
presented in 1931. Since, according to
the Standard Model, the Higgs bosons
could be produced only in the near
Big Bang condition, the success of the
God particle project is an important
addition to the overwhelming support
Lemaitre’s theory has been receiving
from the mid-1960s onwards. It is well
known that the Big Bang Theory of the
origin of the universe can argue for the
existence of a divine Creator, since the
cause of the Primeval Atom of the Big
Bang is left open. In fact, this was the
main reason why Fred Hoyle and other
atheistic cosmologists opposed the
theory of Lemaitre, and proposed their
rival theory of the Steady State Theory
of the origin of the universe. This new
source of evidence for the Big Bang
theory is lending further support to
the traditional view that the creation of
the universe required an external divine
agency (See edit on p.3).
Conclusion
The discovery of the God Particle
is an outstanding achievement of
contemporary science not only because
of what it has already accomplished, but
even more because of what it promises
to do in the coming years. Far from
being a source of unrest and alarm, this
should be a source of joy for believers in
the true God. As the Fathers of Vatican
II reaffirmed in their “Closing Message
to Scientists,” both true religion and
genuine science share the common
mission of the search for truth. Science
is engaged in the search for truth assisted
by the best of reason, true religion
does the same with the special help of
divine revelation. These two should
not contradict, rather they should
complement each other. Certainly
recent developments in science have
far-reaching consequences for religion,
particularly in its understanding of the
nature and role of God in the universe.
In the light of the information and
insights being revealed by contemporary
science, some of the old ideas will
have to be re-visioned; some others
will have to be modified. This should
come as no surprise. As the late Blessed
Pope John Paul II wrote in 1988 to Fr.
George Coyne, SJ, the then Director of
Vatican Observatory, “Contemporary
developments in science challenge
theology far more deeply than did
the introduction of Aristotle into
Western Europe in the thirteenth
century. Yet these developments also
offer to theology a potentially important
resource.” Instead of being alarmed
by these developments, he held the
hope that “the sciences of today... may
invigorate and inform those parts of
the theological enterprise that bear
on the relation of nature, humanity
and God.”
•
Fr Job Kozhamthadam, SJ, is the President
of Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth in Pune. He can be
contacted at: jobksj@gmail.com.
JIVAN: News and Views of Jesuits in India OCTOBER 2012 9