In this 21st century post-Christian world of political-correctness and moral relativism, the world is becoming a very confused place. An emboldened atheistic culture scoffs at those who ask the “wrong” questions about the origin of life and the universe. Our new Gov. Gen. Julie Payette is only too happy to join the parade and give God the heave-ho.
On Nov. 1, she said: “And we are still debating and still questioning whether life was a divine intervention or whether it was coming out of a natural process let alone, oh my goodness, a random process.” It was an obvious eye-roll at anyone who does not have the brains to be an atheist. In doing so, Payette appeared immature.
As National Post columnist Rex Murphy was quick to point out, “facts are indeed truth, but truth is very often more than just facts. What we may observe and measure is not all of life, nor will it ever be.”
Typical of outspoken secularists who feed off erroneous arguments, Payette fails to understand that science can only test and explain what is observable. To illustrate the point, here are two theories of the origin of the universe — the “Big Bang” and theories of evolution — that secularists mistakenly assume proves their worldview.
The Big Bang is the best scientific argument for the origin of the universe. It holds that about 15 billion years ago, from a point much smaller than we can imagine, there was a sudden burst of energy and light that expanded rapidly. Within seconds, energy became matter. Atomic particles appeared, collided with each other, and within a few short minutes gases formed. Hydrogen appeared, along with all the building blocks of life. The laws of science were all in play in the time it would take to make toast and jam.
But this does not prove there is no God. Payette should know from science that every effect has a cause and that we can’t get something from nothing. If she thinks the big bang was caused by a “random process,” she is dishonest to think she has a strong case. It is impossible for science to point to a “random process” as cause because preceding energy and light there was nothing to observe. “Random process” is a dressed-up phrase that doesn’t mean anything because there is no evidence for it.
The world’s great computer mind, Bill Gates, is onto something. Gates acknowledged that there is more information packed into one strand of DNA in the human body than there is in the world’s most complex computer software. No one would ever think computer software was an accident. It requires intelligent design and the minds of many designers. Out of the Big Bang comes a universe incredibly designed with extraordinary laws of science that point to a much bigger brain.
Energy and light made a sudden appearance along with the first moment of time and space. Their cause must exist outside of time and space as it caused time and space. The cause must, therefore, be outside our natural world, in the supernatural. Aristotle argued this points to the uncaused cause. Those interested in metaphysics would argue this is a strong case for an intelligent designer, God.
Secularists made the same error when they hijacked Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Darwin wrote two books more than 100 years ago that today almost no one has read. Otherwise, people would note that Darwin did not talk about “the origin of the species,” even though that was the title of one of his books. Darwin theorizes how living things could gather upon themselves more complicated information to become more complex than are. But how do you get living things in the first place? Darwin does not explain how you get an amoeba from a rock or even how you get a rock. He knew there was no evidence to make a scientific claim. But that didn’t stop secularists from making a non-sequitur argument out of it.
The irony is that the Big Bang and evolution actually point to intelligent design. Christian philosophers agree that God could have allowed for a Big Bang and an evolutionary process but also that scientific observation still leads us back to asking what caused it all. We must go where the evidence takes us and intelligence in the design of the universe points to God. There is no way around it.
So, when it comes to the God question, our Governor General can have doubts and demand more evidence but she is wrong to thinks she has the strongest case.
To then ridicule people she disagrees with was disgraceful.
Patrick Meagher is editor of Farmers Forum and can be reached at editor@farmersforum.com.
