GOD AS A HYPOTHESIS Its true we do not yet know how the universe began to expand and we do not yet know how life arose from non-life. Many people believe that God was responsible for these two events. I have no problem with people who create hypotheses to explain mysteries. It is an accepted part of science. The standard model of particle physics has been highly successful but back in 1964, it was clear something was missing. Peter Higgs proposed the existence of a new particle, now known as the Higgs boson, that would fill the gap. The Higgs boson was a hypothesis—physicists didnt know if actually existed and they knew it would be extremely difficult to detect. In fact, the search took more than 40 years and culminated in building the most complex and expensive machine on Earth—the Large Hadron Collider. By March 2013, the Higgs boson had been detected and confirmed. And the standard model emerged intact and stronger than ever. Some believers use this story as justification for believing in God. If physicists can make things up to explain mysteries, so can we! But there is a huge difference. Before 2013, physicists did not believe in the Higgs boson, it was just a hypothesis that had not yet been confirmed or falsified. Currently, God too is a hypothesis that has not been confirmed or falsified. But that is not what believers say. They often say they are certain; they believe God exists and have no doubts. They take a useful approach to gaining knowledge and corrupt it until it is unrecognisable and irrational. God is a hypothesis. Nothing less and nothing more and no-one should believe a hypothesis.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 14:07:24 +0000
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