Victor J. Stenger

Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado
Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy, University of Hawaii (retired in 2000)
Research Fellow, Center for Inquiry - Transnational CFI
Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry CSI

Please note that I now live in Lafayette, Colorado. If you wish a snail mail address or phone number, please contact me first by email at

<vic.stenger#comcast.net>. Change # to @ before sending. (Anti-spam device).

Information on avoid-L at bottom of page.

The material presented on these pages written by Victor J. Stenger  is copyrighted. Already published items  may be quoted for non-commercial purposes with proper credit. When possible, quote from any published version since what is here may not correspond exactly to the final, offical document. Draft material presented for comments is not final and should not be copied, quoted, or distributed. When in doubt, contact the author by email.

God: The Failed Hypothesis CoverNew York Times bestseller!
  No. 21 In March, 2007

God: The Failed Hypothesis

How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist

  In my 2003 book Has Science Found God? I provided a critique of contemporary claims that science supports the existence of God and found them inadequate.  In this book, I  go much further and argue that science makes a strong case against the existence a God with the traditional attributes of the Judaic-Christian-Islamic God. My argument is not  based simply on the gross absence of evidence for this God. Not only is there no evidence for God, I  argue that the evidence we have can be used to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that this God does not exist. Not only does the universe show no evidence for God, it looks exactly as it would be expected to look if there is no God. In a final chapter I  show why it is preferable to live in a Godless universe.

Available at discounts from:

Prometheus Books
Amazon.com

Slideshow. PowerPoint file of original Keynote presentation.

Reviews

Conspicuous by His Absence by David Ludden for eSkeptic.
Tour de Force by Tom Flynn, editor of Free Inquiry.
Review by Jonathan Levinson on the Secular Web.
Forum on Physics and Society, Americal Physical Society, review by Lawrence S. Lerner

Podcasts and YouTubes

You can watch, listen to or read interviews of Vic Stenger at these locations among others:

Future of Naturalism YouTube interview by Tom Flynn, editor of Free Inquiry.
Point of Inquiry
Faith and Freethought
Thinking-critically
This has a You-Tube video of talk to CFI Toronto on April 5, 2007. Start at part 3. This site also has links to other relevent videos and podcasts.
The Atheist Experience
Huntington News Column in West Virginia web newspaper.

Paperback Edition

The paperback edition is available. It has a foreword by Christopher Hitchens and a new Postscript by the author.

Go here for more reviews and further information.

New Project

The Quantum Gods:

Spiritualism, Theology, and Modern Physics

Go here for more information.  Draft chapters are provided for comments.

Does Science Make Belief in God Obsolete?

Essay for John Templeton Foundation funded public discussion of religion in science. Excerpts to appear in ads in major magazine and newspapers.

Science has not only made belief in God obsolete. It has made it incoherent.


The Comprehensible Cosmos

Where Do The Laws of Physics Come From?

See Flyer.

The laws of physics were not handed down from above. Nor are they somehow built into the logical structure of the universe. They are human inventions, though not arbitrary ones. They are not restrictions on the behavior of matter. They are restrictions on the way physicists may describe that behavior. In order to describe an objective reality, those descriptions cannot depend on the point of view of observers. They must be "point-of-view-invariant." When point-of-view invariance is implemented, the laws of physics follow with few additional assumptions. We live in a comprehensible cosmos.

Review in New Scientist
Go to Amazon.com for discount.
Go here for more information. 
Slideshow. PowerPoint 1.5 Mb. Original Keynote presentation. Fonts may not match.
Where Do The Laws Of Physics Come From? Paper based on book. 3.4 Mb pdf.
Shorter paper in philsci archive.


IN THE NAME OF THE OMEGA POINT SINGULARITY

Review of The Physics of Christianity by Frank J. Tipler. New York: Doubleday, 2007. Free Inquiry 27. No. 5 August/September 2007, p. 62.

Onward Science Soldiers

Commentary  Skeptical Inquirer 31, No. 4 July/August 2007, p. 11.


Reality Check

Will the LHC Destroy Earth?   Reality Check column for  Skeptical Briefs, Vol. 18, No. 2 July 2008.

To read earlier columns, go here.

A Scenario for a Natural Origin of Our Universe

Using a Mathematical Model Based on Established Physics and Cosmology

Published in Philo Vol. 9, No. 2, Fall-Winter 2006. pp. 93-102.

A mathematical model of the natural origin of our universe is presented. The model is based only on the well-established theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics. It is not unique and no claim is being made that this is actually how the universe came about. It is presented to counter the assertion that science cannot provide any plausible explanation for the origin of the universe.

Erratum: In equation 19 the range of the variable should be 0 < a< a0.

Also available on arXiv  arXiv:0710.3137 [pdf]

Previous Book (2003)

Book cover

Has ScienceFound God?

The Latest Results in the Search for Purpose in the Universe.

Published by Prometheus Books April, 2003. Order from Amazon.com.

Reviews, sample chapters and related work. Go here to read a description of book and other material on religion and science. Copyrighted.

PowerPoint slide show
 
See below for other books by Victor J. Stenger


Previously Published Books


 Not By Design: The Origin of the Universe (1988)

Physics and Psychics: The Search for a World Beyond the Senses (1990)

The Unconscious Quantum: Metaphysics in Modern Physics and Cosmology (1995)

Timeless Reality:Symmetry, Simplicity and Multiple Universes (2000)

Reviews of Books by Victor J. Stenger

Go here.

GENERAL TOPICS


The Hawaii Rational Inquirer

News and commentary on issues of interest to the academic community at the University of Hawaii as part of the local, national, and international academic communities. This was produced when I was at the University of Hawaii. This newsletter is no longer being produced. Link to archive.

Recommended links:


If you want to know a little more about me, go here for a short biography. If you want to see my complete CV, go here (pdf).  To see what I look like now, go here. To see what I looked like in 1982, finishing the Honolulu Marathon, go here. On the beach in Hawaii, December 2006.

Email: <vic.stenger#comcast.net>. Change # to @ before sending (anti-spam device).

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