Has Science Found God?: The Latest Results in the Search for Purpose in the Universe
by Victor J Stenger
Prometheus Books, £16.30, ISBN 1591020182
In recent decades authors with scientific training have asserted that science is compatible with the existence of God. Some have asserted that science has proved the actuality of the Divine. The Templeton Foundation devotes millions to showing the compatibility of science and religion and awards an annual prize larger than the Nobel. Stenger examines these claims for the god of science, and more generically for any transcendent, non-material element in the universe. “If God or any other transcendent entity affects physical events and human affairs as significantly as most of their believers think they do, then these effects should be empirically detectable and confirmable by established scientific methods.” (p. 339) Stenger is an emeritus Professor of Physics who has contributed to cosmology, and specifically to understanding of the neutrino. He is thus well qualified to deal with the origin and nature of the universe and its laws. He also considers the beginning and nature of life, and other direct empirical claims for God or the supernatural. He finds all of these claims “not proven” at best, and unproven in most specific instances. The book is very much limited to factual religious claims labelled “scientific” by their authors.
Stenger gives an introduction to present understanding of Big Bang cosmology, and why this does not allow positing a creator-god. Although he keeps it simple, Stenger does require some understanding of mathematics, and without this his argument is not always easy to follow. He can also be quite funny when considering the use of the word “quantum”, which appears in virtually everything written on quack medicine, by authors who have no idea of its precise meaning.
Stenger finds no evidence for God or other supernatural forces. This very much rules out the god of Christians, Jews, and Muslims who intervenes directly in human affairs. His evidence questions the need for any god.
