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No Sense of Obligation Matt Young No Sense of Obligation Science and Religion in an Impersonal Universe Matt Young Recommended Cataloging Data Library of Congress Control Number: BL240.2 Dewey Decimal System Call Number: 240.2 Copyright © 2000, 2001 by Matt Young All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author. ISBN: 0-75961-089-4 The author gratefully acknowledges permission to reprint previously published material from The TANAKH: The New JPS Translation According to the Traditional Hebrew Text. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society. Used by permission. This book is printed on acid free paper. Matt Young, PhD Department of Physics Colorado School of Mines Golden, Colorado 80401 1stBooks – rev. 5/23/01 Praise for No Sense of Obligation by writers, scientists, clergy Matt Young, a physicist by trade, provides a fascinating analysis of religious belief and argues that faith alone is not a valid reason for believing in anything whatever. In a day when there are influential religious leaders, such as Pat Robertson, preaching and sincerely believing that the entire vast physical universe is only about 7,500 years old, there is the most urgent need for books like No Sense of Obligation. STEVE ALLEN Author, composer, entertainer No Sense of Obligation is a tour de force of science and religion, reason and faith, denoting in clear and unmistakable language and rhetoric what science really reveals about the cosmos, the world, and ourselves. Readers, both skeptics and believers, will be forced to confront their assumptions head-on and clarify their thinking on some of the deepest psychological and philosophical issues of our time and of all time. This book is, indeed, an antidote to fundamentalism, one of the most invidious ideological diseases of our culture. MICHAEL SHERMER Publisher, Skeptic Magazine Author, How We Believe: The Search for God in an Age of Science Professor Young's book could not have come at a better time, a time when the perennial question of the relationship between religion and science has emerged again with particular urgency. The issues of religious fundamentalism, of sin, evil, and repentance have moved into the center of the arena of public discourse and public policy. iii At the same time there is a great interest in the truths and resources to be found in classic religious texts and the relative value and place of those set forth by scientific investigation. With Young's unimpeachable foundation in the “hard sciences” and technology, the recognition of his colleagues, his obvious grounding in religious texts and thought, as well as his direct involvement in a religious community, he offers us an important resource for continued rational discussion of live issues: the grounding of our quest for truth and faith, the basis of religious authority, and the problem of evil. HERBERT BRONSTEIN Senior Scholar, North Shore Congregation Israel, Glencoe, Illinois Editor, A Passover Haggadah, Five Scrolls for the Jewish Festivals I was brought up on a farm in rural Michigan. We were Seventh-Day Adventists, and my mother used to read us the Bible every day. Eventually, I went to college and became a physicist. I was amazed that Matt and I have come to very similar conclusions, even though we began at opposite poles. His book makes the skeptic’s case brilliantly. Whether you agree with him or not, it makes for interesting thought provoking reading, and I highly recommend it. DONALD JENNINGS Physicist (retired), National Institute of Standards and Technology The author is a sympathetic yet forceful critic of orthodox religious belief. I cannot accept his conclusions, but this is a serious and thoughtful work and presents a challenge that believers should not simply dismiss. Believers will find a comprehensive and fascinating range of topics, a precise summary of major arguments in opposition to iv accepted important religious doctrines and Scriptural interpretations. Having them in this form will help in being prepared to answer or respond to the author’s point of view. His well-arranged order and sharply argued presentation will stimulate believers to reexamine their usual response to this type of debate. DANIEL GOLDBERGER Rabbi, Congregation Beth Joseph, Denver, Colorado (retired) Rabbi, Hebrew Educational Alliance, Denver, Colorado (retired) The spiritual odyssey of a liberal Jewish scientist who must keep asking, “Why?” A challenge to the believer and the nonbeliever alike. STEVEN STEINBERG Chaplain, Yale–New Haven Hospital Rabbi, Quinnipiac University, New Haven A careful and capable analysis of many religious ideas... for anyone who is willing to face reality [and] is no longer willing to delude themselves with magical religious solutions to real problems. F. HENRY FIRSCHING Professor Emeritus of Chemistry Southern Illinois University–Edwardsville v vi For Deanna David and Donna Rachel Alex and Noah vii viii Table of Contents Preface ........................................................................................ xi 1. Sort of a hypothesis ................................................................. 1 2. Science, evidence, and nonsense ............................................. 9 Scientific method ................................................................ 10 Internal reality ..................................................................... 24 Anecdotal evidence ............................................................. 28 Falsifiability ........................................................................ 31 Rational, irrational, and nonrational.................................... 44 Self correction ..................................................................... 45 Paradigm shifts.................................................................... 48 Taste.................................................................................... 58 Is religion falsifiable?.......................................................... 67 3. Signs, wonders, and anecdotes .............................................. 73 Miracles............................................................................... 73 Credit and blame ................................................................. 80 Reward and punishment...................................................... 82 Wishful thinking.................................................................. 89 Signs.................................................................................... 97 4. Questioning authority .......................................................... 115 The Bible as a science text................................................ 120 The Hebrew Bible ............................................................. 126 The Book of Jonah ............................................................ 133 The Gospels....................................................................... 137 The scientific literature ..................................................... 147 Is the Bible true? ............................................................... 149 5. The evil that men do ............................................................ 157 The Book of Job................................................................ 160 The play, J. B. ................................................................... 168 The biological origin of evil.............................................. 169 6. Aquinas’s error .................................................................... 185 Elemental God................................................................... 188 The Ontological Argument ............................................... 189 The Argument from First Cause........................................ 197 ix The Argument from Contingency ..................................... 204 The Argument from Design .............................................. 207 The Argument from Evolution.......................................... 210 The Anthropic Principle.................................................... 219 The Argument from Mathematical Physics ...................... 224 Mysticism and the Argument from Religious Experience .................................................................. 232 7. Experimentalist’s universe................................................... 249 Ockham’s razor ................................................................. 250 Determinism...................................................................... 253 Damasio and Descartes ..................................................... 258 8. The magnificent structure of nature..................................... 271 9. Questions theists ask............................................................ 279 Appendix Random determinism.............................................. 299 Schrödinger’s cat............................................................... 299 Quantum mechanics demystified (a little) ........................ 304 References ............................................................................... 309 Index ........................................................................................ 323 About the Author x To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection. JULES HENRI POINCARÉ Preface When I first circulated a draft of this book, a philosopher told me that my
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