As well as the traditional view there is no clear cut story of creation. To support the modern Islamic cosmology, many Muslims argue that the Arabic word that translates as ‘days’ is more correctly translated as ‘ages’. They use evidence from the Qur’an to support this view. The word in the Qur’an translated into days is incorrect but is more accurately translated as ‘ages’ , which means that the Islamic view of cosmology in creation took six ages. Also the modern view says that there is no order of creation, but the first creation seems to be the heavens where the Qur’an says “we spread the heaven like a canopy and provided it with a strong support”. Allah started life by sending down the waters and from the waters came vegetation. It is said in the modern view that Allah created man from a small mass of semen. This suggests a slower creation and caters to the views of scientists slightly more than the traditional view.
My conclusion is that between Christianity and the traditional view of Islam their cosmologies are relatively the same except for the structure.
A2
The scientific cosmology contradicts the religious and have provided an answer to the universe for atheists and scientists alike. This answer to the creation of the universe consists of tested and proven theories that are hard to deny. This also has decreased the number of religious believers and has created societies where science rather than religion is the main focus
Most scientists accept the scientific discoveries over the last two hundred years to explain how the universe began.
A remarkable discovery in physics has shown that matter is eternal and cannot be created or destroyed, contradicting that God created everything. The scientific cosmology states that the ‘Big Bang’ had come out of the theory – ‘The Big Bang Theory’, which was formulated over the past one hundred years. The ‘Big Bang’ theory says that 15 billion years ago the eternal matter was compressed and produced a huge ‘big bang’. The evidence for this is the ‘red shift effect’. This is the creation of the universe – not God who created the heavens and earth on day one.
Furthermore, the theory of evolution states that all life on earth evolved from primitive life forms. It also says that natural selection chooses the fittest of the animals, which changes into a different type of animal, leaving the less successful, unadapted species to become extinct.
The scientific cosmologies contradict with the cosmologies of Christianity and Islam. A major contradiction between the scientific and religious cosmologies is the time it took to create the universe. Genesis states that the universe was created in six days, rather than 15 billion years. However, some Muslims dispute that it should be interpreted as six ages rather than six days. Another contradiction is in the order in which things were created and who or what started the universe. The Bible states that God created the heavens and earth on day one – contradictory to science, which says the earth formed over billions of years, which they back up with sophisticated evidence that is difficult to deny.
The idea that humans evolved also contradicts the religious cosmologies. Christianity and Islam states that God created humans separately to the animals of the sea, land and air. But scientists assert that we evolved from animals and that our closest relatives are chimpanzees. These are two completely different ideas but the scientific to most people seem the most likely as you are faced with such undeniable evidence such as fossils. An interesting contradiction is the fact that scientists have discovered dinosaur bones and these are not accounted for in the religious cosmologies. Scientists say that the discovery of fossilised dinosaurs is evidence of the scientific cosmology. This is because dinosaurs aren’t mentioned in the religious cosmologies and dinosaurs helped to prove the theory of evolution.
A3
Many scientists believe the study of the universe through science can actually support the belief in God and the religious cosmologies. There are two cosmologies the scientific and the religious. The scientific tells us and backs up with proof that the universe and everything in it is the product of the big bang and humans evolved from animals. The religious cosmology says that god created the universe in 6 days and created man separately to animals.
Despite the obvious differences between the two cosmologies there are a few connections which can support belief in a religion such as Islam or Christianity.
How the ‘Big Bang’ and evolution led to humans is remarkable to some scientists. The ‘Big Bang’ had to be at a precise moment, just microseconds too late or too early would mean we wouldn’t exist and the universe would not be the way we know it today. Also the way stars form then provide life-giving elements when they supernovae show a higher power is organising things. Also evolution and how life is made with carbon, which are extremely complicated processes, which can’t just happen by chance, there must be a creator to cause this (creation by chance or design). A man said if you find a watch in the middle of a field it isn’t just there it was placed there, it has a creator this can’t be just a chance event. This can now be related to the universe meaning it didn’t get here by chance and it has a designer which is god. The scientists can always explain what happened after the big bang but they don’t know how or why the big bang happened. The reason for the big bang could be found in god therefore supporting belief in god.
The laws of science and complex design of things is also looked at as evidence for supporting religious cosmologies. There are many laws of science which seems to keep the universe in existence and creates boundaries. Without these laws the universe would be in chaos. Also things such as DNA is too beautiful and complicated to be just an accidental design, as it needs an all-knowing designer. So the laws of physics such as gravity and motion are complicated and ask the question: ‘Where did they come from and what maintains them’? The answer is found in god further evidence for god which leads to belief in god.
Furthermore, the scientific idea needs an explanation supporting the idea of God being involved in creation. Scientists say that everything has an explanation; this is what science is based on. So the universe must have an explanation of how it was created, which is God. How can the universe be a chance event? But many scientists would disagree saying that scientists work out the laws themselves and that the universe doesn’t need an explanation as it is not relevant to scientific development.
To conclude this part, isn’t science supporting the religious cosmologies such as the big bang theory? Could this not be when god said let there be light? Science says everything needs an explanation but there are many things in science which hasn’t been explained but in religion unexplained processes can be seen as an act of god.
“You can’t be a scientist and be religious”
I disagree with the statement you can’t be a scientist and be religious because science hasn’t provided all the answers yet. For example, the question of where the laws of physics come from hasn’t been answered yet. How can scientists work out the laws by themselves and say the universe doesn’t need an explanation. It is innate human nature to ask the question ‘why’. We always look for an explanation for something we don’t understand. Scientists aren’t the only ones looking for explanations, and if some of them also happen to believe in God because scientific explanation for a cause has reached its limit at that particular time. Also the first scientists were actually looking for evidence of God – not looking to prove God doesn’t exist so that creation was by chance. There is a realm beyond science which we couldn’t possibly comprehend.
I also disagree with this statement because science and religion bare so many similarities such as science is based on the explanation of everything and religion uses God to explain these things. Science tells us that forces such as gravity and magnetism are invisible forces that make things happen as they do. Religion claims that these invisible forces, which does this, is God. Scientists test theories by experimenting on them, such as 'the big bang theory'. Religion uses experiments to test the effect on people's lives. Such as when people are buried, believers used to say that the entire body went to either heaven or hell, but as people began to question this and dig up graves, they realised that the bodies weren't going anywhere only slowly rotting. Therefore, a new belief rose that the spirit not the body went to either heaven or hell.
However I can see why some Christians and Muslims may have another view and agree with the statement as it is how you interpret the Bible or Qur’an. If you are a Fundamentalist you will totally agree with the statement as you believe that the holy book is the complete word of god and can not be distorted or put in a different way to cater for scientific ideas. If god said that the earth was created in 6 days that’s how it must have happened and must not be changed to try and account for the scientific cosmology which suggests that the earth took 15 billion years to form. This means that if you’re a scientist and believe in the scientific cosmology you can’t possibly be religious. But this is only true for fundamentalists, a scientist could be a conservative or liberal which allow for slight changes and can slightly account for the scientific cosmology suggesting science is proof of God.
Another reason for why people would agree with this statement as it is seen that religion and the sciences contradict one another; science is based on facts and religion on theories that can’t be proven. The scientists work and beliefs would get in the way of each other changing both of them this is why they have to be non-religious.
In my conclusion I still disagree with the statement and can be religious because look at the universe and remember that scientists say there’s an explanation for everything so where is the explanation of the big bang. Could the universe not have a designer? You can be a religious scientist and even believe in the scientific cosmology as you can believe in the designer of the universe which is god. The universe is much to complicated to just be sheer luck as it has taken many steps to have life on earth such as stars when they supernovae to give life giving elements. Also religious scientists still exists today which show that it is possible to be a religious scientist.