However, religious beliefs disagree with these statements and believe that the Universe did not begin with the Big Bang but that it was actually created by God himself, Christian thinking is based on the same idea that God created everything, the process took six days, for example, the Bible says things were created in the following order- the heavens and Earth, the atmosphere, land and sea, and then plants, animals and people. This is the same order, as scientists believe things appeared. So the timescale is different (million of years rather than six days), but the general idea is the same. This is the belief in the literal truth of Genesis that led many Christians to think that God created the world. However, some scientists don’t believe this was the case but that life actually evolved from the Big Bang theory.
For science the Big Bang theory came about in the form that since all galaxies appear to be moving apart rapidly, the obvious conclusion is that there was an initial explosion: the Big Bang. All the matter in the Universe must have been compressed into a very small space and then it exploded and the expansion is still going on The Big Bang is believed to have happened around 15 billion years ago. The age of the universe can be estimated from the current rate of expansion. These estimates are not very accurate because it’s hard to tell how much the expansion has slowed down since the Big Bang. Early theories were that the universe evolved over time. These are ideas based upon influential scientists in 1790-1900 such as Jean Baptiste, Lamarck, Charles Lyen and Charles Darwin. All of these ideas go well with religious and Philosophical responses to the Big Bang theory.
Alternately, religious statements on the big bang theory are entirely different as some believe in ‘Absolutionist Creationism’ that the world was created exactly as expressed in the book of Genesis as found in the Bible. Science is therefore wrong. In the 17th century Bishop James Usher used Genesis to give the exact time and date of creation. Religious statements were also based on ‘Conciliatory Creationism’ that science has discovered what the Bible or Torah has said all along. One of the Genesis creations stories that the world came out of nothing, as does modern, cosmological theory. Hebrew ‘day’ is the same as that for ‘age’; therefore Genesis is an account of the 7 ages of man rather than a literal week of creation. Although science believes this occurred millions of years rather than the six or seven days mentioned. There is also a belief in Religious Defeatism that a belief in God is maintained, but this is a God. God fits in where science has no answers. There are also constructive responses towards the Big Bang theory and how the universe began, in other religions such as Islam; the Qu’ran does not detail the events of creation. Therefore, most Muslims accept that God is the supreme cause, but that can account for how it all actually happened. However, unlike Christianity and Judaism, descriptions of creation in the Qu’ran are not entirely at odds with science. Islam does not really have a problem competing with the Big Bang theory or Darwinism. Christians and Jews do not understand Genesis to be historical or scientific truth. Instead, its purpose is to explain the reason for creation.
In the science sense the theory of evolution suggests that all the animals and plants on Earth gradually ‘evolved’ over millions of years and that living things are dependant upon others for survival. Religious beliefs are not the same but that evolution was created and did not take millions of years but six or seven days. Life on Earth began as simple organisms living in water and gradually everything else evolved from there. The evidence for this are fossils, they show how today’s species have changed and developed over millions of years. There are quite a few ‘missing links’ and the fossil record is incomplete. This is because very few dead plants or animals actually turn into fossils. Fossils normally show a backbone or shell and look as stones and can be printed in stone. The fossil found can show the age of the rock. The lower the fossil the older it is. We can identify such factors with fossils with the more radiation they contain the newer they are and the less radiation the older they are. Most just decay away completely.
Soon after, there was a discovery in 1835 by Charles Darwin and then all the study of all living things changed. Thirteen different finches fascinated Darwin as they were varied and a Woodpecker that used a cactus needle for food. At the Island in which Darwin used to live, he made geological and life references in the island. Alfred Wallis had the same ideas as Darwin simultaneously. They found out that organisms were born with certain variations and they had a constant struggle for survival. Such an animal would be the Polar bear or giraffe that can suit different environments. Also, he learnt that too many predators could cause prey to decrease in size. Those individuals who survive such as prey or predators can adapt and have features. Living things can camouflage to survive. Another study was that darker moths never survived in normal areas but survived in darker areas, light moths never survived in polluted areas because predators easily saw them it shows how moths can inherit parent’s genes. Another discovery was the evolution of humans of the bone of a limb that are the same for humans, cats and bats and they then evolved over the years and changed in the same form, the bones increased in size but the same number of fingers were the same.
Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection provided a comprehensive explanation for all life on Earth. This was the first time ever; there was a highly plausible explanation for own existence, without the need for a ‘Creator’. This was not good for the religious authorities of the time, which tired to ridicule Darwin’s ideas. But the truth will be out. Overall, the theory was the famous ‘Survival of the fittest’ statement. Organisms with slightly less survival-value will probable perish first, leaving the strongest and fittest to pass on their genes to the next generation.
Religious arguments based on evolution are different from scientific arguments but that Darwin’s ideas made forward in 1835 had not come from scientists but from religious opponents (or scientists acting out of religious belief). The thought that living things had evolved by natural processes denied the special creation of humankind and seemed to place humanity on a plane with the animals; both of these ideas were serious challenges to orthodox theological opinions. In the 18th century Protestants attempted to find new interpretations of religious experience and an understanding of history that could accommodate the proposition of the theory of evolution.
Conclusion:
We do not yet know where the universe came from exactly but scientists have got many ideas where the universe came from using the best description they have of the origin of the universe, because it fits observations made by astronomers, one obvious question raised by physicists is: how did the singularity arise? Another is: what is the ultimate fate of the universe? Scientists are yet exploring the answers for the last question. Some scientists believe in very diverse ideas about the universe for example that the expansion will continue indefinitely or that the expansion will slow down. Scientists certainly believe the universe evolved over millions of years to become who we are today. Modern molecular evidence has boosted the evidence for evolution beyond Darwin’s wildest dreams, and the fact of evolution is now as securely attested as any in science. In general the evidence for the fact that evolution has occurred consists of an enormous number of detailed observations which all make sense if we assume the theory of evolution, but which can be explained by the Creation theory only if we assume that the creator elaborately set out to deceive us.
Religious ideas based on where the universe came from are that there was a ‘Creator’ behind the universe and we evolved from Adam and Eve rather from apes which science believes. The two types of arguments can be taken literally and therefore scientific and religious ideas can exist in harmony. Scientific ideas believe that religious or theological ideas go well together and are the same.
