My problem with this little quip is that it is too often used to ignore the actual content of the Big Bang theory in favor of changing the subject to metaphysics. It is often heard in mixed company when I’m trying to get at the meat of why certain Christian-folk have a problem with modern scientific theories. The Big Bang, to them, is a nice turn-of-phrase that can be used to describe the relationship between creation and creator. Well, that’s one interpretation I guess.
The minute, however, I say that the universe is 15 billion years old, or some other FEATURE of said theory, many of these very same people get very hot-under-the-collar. “I thought you were IN FAVOR of the Big Bang?” I ask.
“God made the universe the way it describes it in the Bible,” they reply.
“Okay, but the details of this are that 15 billion years ago…”
“Lies! Lies! Lies! Read Genesis!” comes the response.
Okay, so I’m paraphrasing.
The crux of the matter is that the very same people who are happy with the ab initio point of Big Bang Cosmology being fundamentally agnostic don’t want to deal with the details of the theory that illustrates some profound points on epochs of “creation”. If you don’t believe me, check out the website, Answers in Genesis.
The thing is, romanticide, that the Bible is not just one “Big Book.” It’s more like a library, made up of lots of smaller books. Would it make sense to say that every book in your local library is wrong just because The Lorax is in said library and it’s obviously fiction? No, of course not. Each book in both libraries was written for different purposes, by one or more different authors, and at different times in history. The Lorax is a good book, and it has an important message…but that message has to be interpreted in a different way than the message in Do-It-Yourself Home Plumbing. Similarly, most Christians believe that while, for instance, Mark’s Gospel and Genesis both have important messages for Christians to live by, these messages are not told in the same way, and those books are not considered equally “historically true.”
Why isn’t the OP question “Does the Big Bang invalidate RELIGION?” I know fundamentalist Christians get more hung up on literal creationism, but the creation story is important to Jews and Muslims, too.
Why isn’t the OP question “Does the Big Bang invalidate RELIGION?” I know fundamentalist Christians get more hung up on literal creationism, but the creation story is important to Jews and Muslims, too.**
Such a silly question. There’s only ONE, TRUE religion, of course; Christianity! All others are pale shadows or they’re worshipping false gods.
(for the humor-impaired, the preceeding was a joke)