Friday, July 1, 2011

Science And An All-Powerful God Are Not Compatible

I don't think a god and science are compatible at all. Here's why:

Assuming the god in question is of the all-powerful, it-can-do-anything type, then there is no science to be discovered inside its universe. This is because if the "rules" of the universe are subject to the whims of this creature, then there literally are no hard-and-fast rules, the basis of scientific inquiry.

Any finding of a scientific experiment would have to be seen as unrevealing because the god creature could have either temporarily changed the "rules" to affect the result or altered the result. Science is predicated on the idea that rules are stable, can be discovered, and confirmed through repeated experimentation. If there is a meddling creature who can literally do anything, science would be moot. The universe would be a set of changing funhouse mirrors alterable by a deity that never reveals what he's doing.

So, for those on the religious side who love to say that their beliefs are compatible with science, they either have to change the definition of science (which is common) or ignore the implications of what an all-powerful deity actually means for the scientific method. Either way, the assertion fails.

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