Non-Religious Scientific Views - Origins Of The Universe

Question 1

Scientific - KU

Answer 1

• If you were to ask a scientist where our universe came from then the most common answer will be that it wasn’t created and began with the Big Bang
• An astronomer called George Lemaître theorised that our universe began from a single point and expanded to what we observe as our universe today
• Some call the starting point the singularity.
• The initial energy from the expansion formed the primordial elements hydrogen and helium and the gases cooled to form galaxies, stars and planets
• Edwin Hubble, an astronomer at the MT Wilson Observatory in California, discovered that the light coming from distant galaxies was all shifted towards the red end of the light spectrum
• The elements found in the universe today, the basic atomic and chemical building blocks for everything that exists, points strongly towards a particular process of their ‘creation’ in the past

Question 2

Scientific - analysis

Answer 2

• Arguably this shows a scientific reasoning approach to the origins of life so they use theories such as the Big Bang to understand creation
• An implication of the discovery of red shift is that everything in the universe appears to be expanding away from a central ‘point’, so there must have been such a stating off point and so far everything a ‘beginning’ - a Big Bang

Question 3

Scientific - Quote

Answer 3

‘Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the Universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation’ - Stephen Hawking

• This quote implies that believing God created the universe is a starting point to understanding creation however science explanations are now more advanced in how we understand the creation of the universe as the Big Bang

Question 4

Scientific - Strength

Answer 4

• The Big Bang is based on scientific reasoning and uses empirical evidence, so the theory is backed up with significant research
• There is a compelling amount of evidence to back up the Big Bang Theory. Cosmological redshift, an abundance of light elements and cosmic background radiation all support the theory

Question 5

Scientific - Weakness

Answer 5

• Many scientists still maintain that the very first moments of the Big Bang are not just unknown, but because of the intense heat and energy, possibly unknowable. So will we never know how it began or i anything existed before
• Although the evidence is considered reliable and based on observations, there is still a lot of inference and interpretation. Some are of the opinion that this means the evidence is being manipulated to fit the theory

Question 6

Scientific - Evaluation

Answer 6

• I disagree with scientific explanations as they are based on the wok of humans and therefore reliability and accuracy can be questioned due to bias and falliability of humans
• I agree as there is a lot of compelling evidence to back up the Big Bang theory as cosmic background radiation and light elements all support the theory
• I disagree with scientific explanations as although the evidence is considered reliable and based on observations there is still a lot of influence and interpretation. Some are of the opinion that this means the evidence is being manipulated to fit theory