Miracle and Science

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Miracle and Science
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Miracles

• Have figured prominently in many of the great
  world religions
• Many people have felt that miracles are important
  supports for their faith and sense of hope (in
  the face of hardships such as severe illness)
• Many people use the word miracle simply as a
  synonym for wondrous or amazing, but these
  more general uses of the term are not what we are
  interested in for the purposes of the written
  assignment or class discussion
• Were interested in theological miraclesthose
  events thought to be the result of the actions of
  supernatural forces, such as God or gods

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Definitions of Miracle

• The author C.S. Lewis provides a very common
  definition An interference with nature by
  supernatural power
• Richard Swinburne (and Larmer) An event of an
  extraordinary kind, brought about by a god, and
  of religious significance
• Christine Overall A break in the space-time
  causal sequence

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Scientific SkepticsDavid Hume

• Extraordinary events require extraordinary (i.e.
  Scientific) proof, but reverse holds for all
  miracles
• Hallucination, misperception, the desire for
  the astonishing or simple human mischief are
  more likely explanations, e.g.
• Why do competing religions all have miracles?
  Why wouldnt a God simply favour one religion
  (the true one) with miracles?

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Classical Scientific View or Naturalism

• Deterministic Everything that happens according
  to strict laws, with not exceptions
• Mechanistic The world is like a machine (clock)
• Materialistic The world is composed of a bunch
  of distinct material objects (atoms)
• No room for operation of chance, free will or the
  actions of supernatural forces in the process of
  causation (physical objections interacting with
  other physical objects in a cause effect
  relationship governed by strict laws of nature)

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Objections to Hume

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

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Quantum Mechanics

• The physics of the very small developed early in
  the 20th century
• Its well established theories present many
  findings that run counter to classical views
• Subatomic particles seem to behave as particles
  and waves
• Seem to occupy two positions at once
• Seem to influence other particles over vast
  distances, with no apparent connection
• Observer seems to play a necessary role

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The New Physics

• World is not necessarily mechanistic, but seems
  interconnected (more like an organism)
• World is not necessarily deterministic, but
  possibly ruled by a mixture of law and
  probability, such that very strange events can
  happen within the ranges of quantum probability
• World is not clearly material, but is more like
  an information system (perhaps held in a great
  world mind)

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John Polkinghorne (Contemporary Physicist and
Theologian)

• Miracles are possible, but not in Lewis sense
• Quantum Theory or simple synchronicity can make
  extraordinary events possible
• The real problem with miracles is not with
  science but is a theological problem of
  miracleChristian God of steadfast faithfulness
  vs. interventionist god who practices favoritism
  (Christine Overall)
• Perhaps miracles must be so rare b/c God is
  self-limited by his respect of the freedom of
  his creation

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Larmer

• Perhaps God can act within the laws of physics
• If God simply creates matter out of nothing and
  adds it to the otherwise rule-bound universe, or
  perhaps takes advantage of the looseness
  implied by quantum mechanics to nudge physical
  processes in certain directions, then such a God
  would be able to act in a world without breaking
  any laws of nature (such as the laws of
  thermodynamics)

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Christine Overall

• Problem of Evil Why does an all-powerful,
  all-knowing and loving God not act more often to
  help alleviate suffering? Why are only some
  individuals blessed with divine interventions?
• Overall If miracles of the sort that Larmer
  offers were to occur, they would constitute very
  good evidence against the existence of a God who
  is omnipotent (all powerful) omniscient (all
  -knowing) and all-good.