Miracles and Science

1
Miracles and Science
2
Definitions of Miracle

• C.S. Lewis An interference with nature by
  supernatural power (Intervention Miracles)
• David Hume A violation of the laws of nature
  (Intervention Miracles)
• John Polkinghorne An event of an extraordinary
  kind, brought about by a god, and of religious
  significance (Natural Miracles)

3
Scientific SkepticDavid Hume

• Science shows that natures laws are unalterable
• Extraordinary events require extraordinary proof,
  but reverse holds for miracle
• Misperception, the desire for the astonishing
  or simple human mischief are more likely
  explanations
• Why do competing religions all have miracles?

4
Contingency Miracles

• R.F. Holland points out that many miracles
  reported by believers simply involve very
  unlikely events
• If such events can be described as miracles, why
  should the defintion or miracle necessarily
  involve the breaking of laws of nature?

5
Classical Scientific View

• Determinism Everything that happens according
  to strict laws, with not exceptions (no freewill)
• Reductionism (Mechanistic Outlook) The world is
  like a machine (eg clock) the parts can fully
  explain the whole
• Materialism The world is composed of a bunch of
  distinct material objects (atoms)

6
Quantum Mechanics

• The physics of the very small developed early in
  the 20th century
• Its well established theories present many
  findings counter to classical views
• Subatomic particles can behave as particles and
  waves
• Can occupy more than one position at once
• Can influence other particles over vast
  distances, with no apparent connection
• Requires an observer

7
The Double Slit Experiment

• The behavior of sub- atomic particles changes
  when observed
• The particles behave as waves and particles,
  depending on the observation
• The exact trajectory of any atom can never be
  predicted with certainty (events can never be
  verified to be perfectly determined, but only
  behave according to laws of probability)

8
John Bells Experiments

• Source emits two photons (A B) in opposite
  directions
• Detector 30 km away detects As spin (which is
  indeterminate, but must always be opposite to Bs)
• B is detected immediately after A (too fast for
  light to travel between the two)
• B is always opposite spin of A
• Established the QM notion of Entanglement

9
The New Physics

• World is not mechanistic, but interconnected
  (more like an organism)
• World is not deterministic, but ruled by a
  mixture of law and probability (indeterminacy)
• World is not clearly material, but is
  multi-dimensional and more like an information
  system than a mechanism

10
Quantum Physics and Religion

• Provides opportunities for integration between
  science and religion
• Some people take the findings of quantum
  mechanics as proof of the eastern religions
  claims about the unity of all reality (holism)
• Others see in these discoveries a space (the
  quantum zone of indeterminacy) for God to act
  providentially in the world that is compatible
  with science

11
Polkinghorne

• Miracles are possible, but not in Lewis sense
• Quantum Theory or simple synchronicity make
  extraordinary events possible
• Theological problem of MiracleChristian God of
  steadfast faithfulness vs. interventionist god
  who practices favoritism
• Perhaps miracles must be so rare b/c God is
  self-limited by his respect of the freedom of
  his creation

12
Objections to Hume

• Is rejecting miracle on principle really a
  scientific way of looking at the question?
• Why must one assume deterministic view of nature?
• Why must one assume that God would not respond to
  wishes of non-believers (exclusivism)?