Science and Religion

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.

The Comprehensible Cosmos  (2006)

Where Do The Laws of Physics Come From?

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.
 

Go here for more information and reviews.

Book cover

Has ScienceFound God?     (2003)

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

Natural UNIVERSE

Story about Has Science Found God in Boulder Daily Camera, Oct. 12, 2003, by books editor Clay Evans. Large file (2.5 Mb).

Camera.pdf

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.

Do Our Values Come from God? The Evidence Says No

Article based on chapter in book published in Free Inquiry, August/September 2006.

The Scientific Case Against a God Who Created the Universe

A chapter  in The Improbability of God, edited by Michael Martin and Ricki Monnier (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2006).

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 and the exponent should be negative.

Also available on arXiv  arXiv:0710.3137 [pdf]

The Absence of God in Physics and Cosmology

Oct. 7 talk at the University of Colorado Theology Forum.


PowerPoint slide show.

Will Secularism Survive?

Yes, If We Can Keep Science Afloat

Contribution to a special symposium in Free Inquiry October/November 2005 Vol. 25 No. 6. p. 32.

Flew's Flawed Science  

Article  in Free Inquiry 25, No. 2, Feb-March 2004, reacting to media reports that famous philosopher Antony Flew has converted from atheism to belief in God. Flew admits "errors" in a letter in the following  issue.

The Cosmic Blueprint

Review of new edition of book by Paul Davies in Science & Theology News June, 2004.

The Physics of Society

Review of Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another by Philip Ball (2004). For Science & Theology News.

The Premise Keepers

Article published in Free Inquiry Vol. 23 No. 3 Summer 2003.

RELIGION AND HEALTH

Read my exchange on religious behavior and health with United Methodist minister Andrew Weaver and best-selling author Larry Dossey reprinted from the Templeton Foundation newspaper Research News & Opportunities in Science and Theology.

1. Forum
2. Reply to Weaver
3. Weaver
4. Dossey
5. Reply to Dossey

Physicist argues that, for lack of scientific evidence, God is probably just a concept

By Mark Sauer
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/science/20020426-9999_mz1c26proof.html

"In July 1998, the cover of Newsweek declared: 'Science Finds God.'" This article is about my talk in San Diego, April 23, 2002.

Selected Links on Information Theory, Intelligent Design, and other Design Arguments


Critical Thought and Religious Liberty. Very complete set of links to books and articles on both side of the issue.

The Design Argument by Elliot Sober.

How Not to Detect Design by Branden Fitelstein, Christopher Stephens, and Elliot Sobel.

Information Theory Primer by Thomas Schneider

A Mathematical Theory of Communication by Claude Shannon

The Great Debate: Is There a God? - A Scientist and a Philosopher Speak Out

My debate with William Lane Craig, Ph.D., Th.D.

September 10, 2003 at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii. Attendance approx. 1000.
 
My opening statement
Htm file. PowerPoint slide show
My rebuttal
Htm file. PowerPoint slide show
My closing statement
Htm file.
If you want to read Dr. Craig's views, visit his web site.
More information. You can order tapes from here.

Article on debate from student newspaper.


The Incompatibility of Science and Christianity. Notes for talk.

How to Answer Theist Arguments. A dialogue between beleiver and nonbeliever.

Read my exchange on religious behavior and health with United Methodist minister Andrew Weaver and best-selling author Larry Dossey reprinted from the Templeton Foundation newspaper Research News & Opportunities in Science and Theology.

1. Original Readers' Forum exchange with Weaver. Vol 2, No. 5, January 2002.
2. My response to Weaver. Vol. 2., No. 6, Fenruary 2002.
3.  Weaver response in same issue.
4.  Larry Dossey reaction to be published  in June issue.
5.  My response to Dossey.

A Weak Effort  to Reconcile Science and Religion

Review of

The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence  for Belief

By Francis S. Collins

 Physics World Vol. 19 No. 10 October 2006, pp. 45-46. Go here for pdf of review.

Please refer to published version.

Enlightening the Future

Contribution to Spiked symposium.

Can Science Study the Supernatural?

Talk given on April 8, 2006 at the conference "Darwinian Evolution in the 21st Century," University of Colorado, Boulder, and on April 26, 2006 at the Dallas Philosophers Forum.

Abstract (html).

Slide show (3.5Mb pdf). Original is Keynote presentation. Animations not shown.

Do Our Values Come from God? The Evidence Says No

Article based on chapter in above book published in Free Inquiry 26(5)August/September 2006, pp. 42-45.

Abstract of article to appear in The Philosophers' Index

The Scientific Case Against a God Who Created the Universe

A chapter  in The Improbability of God, edited by Michael Martin and Ricki Monnier (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2006).

Essays and Reviews

Intelligent Design: The New Stealth Creationism." PDF file of paper based on talks given in Lawrence, Topeka, and Wichita, Kansas, September 22, 25, 26, 2000 at the invitation of the Kansas Citizens For Science.  Now at Secular Web.Abstract  in html. OK to distibute, with credit. Note that the material here has been updated for the book Has Science Found God? (See above).

Natural Explanations for the Anthropic Coincidences. Paper published in PhiloVolume 3, Number 2 Fall-Winter 2000. Reprints available on request. Do not distribute without permission of the author and editors.

The Breath of God: Identifying Spiritual Energy.   Chapter 32 of Skeptical Odysseys edited by Paul Kurtz,  Amherst N.Y.: Prometheus Books (2001). Copyrighted. Do not distribute without permission of the author and editors.

The God of Falling Bodies. Article published in Skeptical InquirerVol. 25, no. 5, September 2001, special issue on science and religion. OK to distribute, with credit. This is based on a chapter in Has Science Found God.

Humanity in Time and Space. Essay published in Free Inquiry Vol. 21 No. 2 Spring 20001.

The Other Side of Time.  Short essay on the Kalam cosmological argument in which it is shown that the universe need not have had a beginning.

Long article The Anthropic Coincidences: A Natural Explanation.Published in Skeptical Intelligencer Vol. 3 Issue No. 3, July 1999. Available from ASKE, the Association for Skeptical Inquiry.

Shorter article Anthropic Design:  Does the Cosmos Show Evidence of Purpose?  Published inSkeptical Inquirer Vol. 23, No. 4, July/August 1999.

Go here to read an interview  by Cliff Walker, editor of Positive Atheism, conducted in Portland, Oregon in November, 1999.

Anthropic Design and the Laws of Physics. Published in the Reports of the National Center on Science Education, Vol. 18, Number 3, May/June 1998, pp. 812. Link to text not available.

Article Has Science Found God? Published in Free Inquiry19(1) Winter 1998/99, 56-58.

Seeking Purpose in a Universe of Chance.  Review of Belief in God in the Age  of Science by John Polkinghorne. This review is on the  Secular Web.

Fitting the Bible to the Data.  Review of The Science of God: The Convergence of Scientific and Biblical Wisdomby Gerald L. Schroeder. This review is on the Secular Web and has been published in Skeptical Inquirer Vol. 23 No. 4 July/August 1999. This version can be found here.

The Functional Equivalent of God. Review of The Creator and theCosmos: How the Greatest Scientific Discoveries of the Century Reveal God by Hugh Ross. This review is on the Secular Web and has been published in Skeptic Vol. 6 No. 3 (1998)89-91.

Links to other work can be found on the home page and following pages

Other material related to this subject can be reached with the following links:


Short Essays 1990-1994


The following essays appared in the Newsletter of Humanists Hawaii in the early 1990s. A few were reprinted in other humanist publications. I do no thave the exact publication dates and they are not in the order they originally appeared. They are all copyrighted and should not be distributed or quoted without proper credit.
 

Ingersoll's Vow

The eloquent vow made by the nineteenth century freethinker Robert G. Ingersoll.
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