How We Believe_ Science and the Search for God - Michael Shermer [68]
Counterargument. The argument that we cannot be good without God is easily refuted through a simple and straightforward question: What would you do if there were no God? The question can be followed by an additional question that draws the denouement: Would you commit deception, robbery, rape, and murder, or would you continue being a good and moral person? Either way the argument is over. If the answer is that people would quickly turn to deception, robbery, rape, or murder, then this is a moral indictment of their character, indicating they are not to be trusted because if, for any reason, they turn away from their belief in God (and most people do at some point in their lives), the plug is pulled on their constraints and their true immoral nature is revealed; we would be well advised to steer a wide course around them. If the answer is that people would continue being good and moral, then apparently you can be good without God.
SCIENTIFIC ARGUMENTS FOR GOD
Scientifically based arguments that claim to prove the existence of God fall in the gray borderlands between science and philosophy, physics and metaphysics, and lie mostly in the realm of cosmology, in the study of the fundamental laws of nature, or in the complexities of the biological world. The first two fall into what might be called “The New Cosmology,” and the last might be thought of as “The New Creationism.”
THE NEW COSMOLOGY
Most of the new cosmological arguments for God’s existence are made by creationists such as Hugh Ross, whose series of books on The Creator and the Cosmos, Creation and Time, and Beyond the Cosmos argue “how the greatest scientific discoveries of the century reveal God.” Ross’s books are published by and for Christians, and are specifically written such that, as noted on the book jacket of the first installment, “whether you’re looking for scientific support for your faith or new reasons to believe,” these works “will enable you to see the Creator for yourself.” Ross is, in fact, the president of Reasons to Believe, a nonprofit Christian corporation whose purpose, as gleaned from its name, is to provide believers with reasons to reinforce their faith. Among the strongest, he argues, are those from cosmology.
Many non-Christians also find cosmological arguments compelling. It may not be the God of Abraham in focus in the Hubble telescope, but behind the laws of nature, outside the large-scale structure of the universe, and inside the small-scale structure of the atom, lurks a higher intelligence, a spark of divinity. At the politically conservative American Enterprise Institute, for example, English literature scholar Patrick Glynn penned God: The Evidence, a more sophisticated presentation than Ross’s but at the core presenting a similar set of arguments: The anthropic principle implies a creator, religious belief leads to greater physical and mental wellness, and near-death experiences prove there is an afterlife. Although Glynn is calling for “the reconciliation of faith and reason,” he abandons the latter because “reason has proved an imperfect guide to the ultimate truths about the physical world, let alone the ultimate truths about the universe and human life.” In the end, “reason rediscovers and reconstructs … what Spirit already knows.” Of course, Glynn is using reason to bolster what his spirit already knows—that God exists. Rather than a reconciliation of faith and reason, it is faith in search of reasons to believe. In addition to this being a pointless exercise since faith cannot be proved, his reasons are not sound. The anthropic principle only implies that there is order in the universe (more on this later); religious belief may or may not lead to greater physical and mental wellness, but if it does, it is for perfectly understandable reasons, such as a social support system that encourages healthier living; and near-death experiences