Does Science show that God is irrelevant?
Posted by Paul Ackermann on Sunday, June 17, 2012
Under: God
Historically, there have been two views of how God interacted with the universe.
One view is that God is the direct cause of everything that happened. This view has been taught by Calvinism, Protestant Fundamentalism and Islam. For instance, the Muslim would say that if shoot an arrow into a bulls-eye, it had nothing to do with your marksmanship or the wind or the distance. It was merely Allah’s will. Calvinists would see that everything that happens is directly God’s will.
The other view is the Catholic view. St Thomas Aquinas taught that God is not the direct cause of everything. He is the ultimate cause, but there are secondary causes. Catholic thinker John Buridan interpreted Genesis chapters of God rested on the seventh day that God established the scientific laws of the first six days (the Catholic Church does not take a literal interpretation of “days”) and then lets the natural process work itself out. Now and then God may decide to intervene in the natural process, which is what we call a miracle. But most of the time, the world runs on scientific principles. It was this view that allowed science to get off the ground. The Catholic scientists in the Middle Ages laid the groundwork for modern science.
Any scientific discovery only refutes the first view – that God directly caused everything to happen. It only made the first view of God superfluous. But it has never refuted the Catholic view, which has been taught by the Church since the Middle Ages. Science has validated the Catholic view over against traditional Protestantism and Islam.
One view is that God is the direct cause of everything that happened. This view has been taught by Calvinism, Protestant Fundamentalism and Islam. For instance, the Muslim would say that if shoot an arrow into a bulls-eye, it had nothing to do with your marksmanship or the wind or the distance. It was merely Allah’s will. Calvinists would see that everything that happens is directly God’s will.
The other view is the Catholic view. St Thomas Aquinas taught that God is not the direct cause of everything. He is the ultimate cause, but there are secondary causes. Catholic thinker John Buridan interpreted Genesis chapters of God rested on the seventh day that God established the scientific laws of the first six days (the Catholic Church does not take a literal interpretation of “days”) and then lets the natural process work itself out. Now and then God may decide to intervene in the natural process, which is what we call a miracle. But most of the time, the world runs on scientific principles. It was this view that allowed science to get off the ground. The Catholic scientists in the Middle Ages laid the groundwork for modern science.
Any scientific discovery only refutes the first view – that God directly caused everything to happen. It only made the first view of God superfluous. But it has never refuted the Catholic view, which has been taught by the Church since the Middle Ages. Science has validated the Catholic view over against traditional Protestantism and Islam.
In : God