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| Cover of the book Divine action & modern science by Nicholas Saunders |
As I mentioned in
previous posts, neither the existence nor the
non-existence of God can be proved by science. God, if He
exists, cannot be the object of scientific knowledge. Consequently, from the
rational point of view, the problem of the existence of God is philosophical
rather than scientific. Several solutions have been proposed for this problem:
- Atheism: According to this solution, followed today
by many, God does not exist and the existence of the universe would be a
consequence just of chance. An additional problem, suggested
by this theory, is that we really don’t know what chance is
(see this
post). Like dark matter and dark energy,
it is just a name that tries to hide our ignorance.
- Pantheism: According to this solution, proposed by such
distinguished names as Spinoza and Einstein, God is the universe. In other
words, there is something in the universe that we cannot discover through scientific
analysis, which explains in some way its own existence and ours. The
contrast of this theory with the previous one is clear in Einstein’s words
against the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics: God does not play dice. With those
simple words, Einstein declared his disbelief regarding the concept of chance,
used by many atheistic solutions to the problem. In this theory, the
action of God in the world would take place only through natural causes,
without any alteration (by means of compatibilist
action).
- Deism: According to this solution, God exists and
created the universe, but then He left it evolve alone. Originated in the
eighteenth century, many French thinkers of the time (and a few later on, until
today) adopted this theory. From this point of view, the problem of the
action of God in the universe does not arise, because it denies that God
acts in the universe.
- Providential Theism: According to this solution, God exists and created the universe, but then He doesn’t forget about it, but interacts with it in some way, directing its evolution. The problem of divine action only arises in the framework of this theory.
