WORD STUDIES

The word of the day is “anthropic”

Why study “anthropic” at church?

Because the Anthropic Principle supports creationism and the intelligent design argument.

Why study “anthropic” at church? Because the Anthropic Principle supports creationism and the intelligent design argument. On December 20, 2005, a federal judge ruled that “intelligent design” could not be mentioned in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district, delivering a stinging attack on the Dover Area School Board.

Dictionary definition: anthropic: of or relating to human beings or the period of their existence on earth. ( Wikipedia: The anthropic principle (from Greek anthropos, meaning "human") is the philosophical consideration that observations of the universe must be compatible with the conscious and sapient life that observes it. ( Anthropic _principle)

Did God create the universe with an intelligent design? A common presumption among religious believers is that a divine entity created the universe. The accounts in the biblical book of Genesis affirm this belief.

Did God create the universe with an intelligent design? A common presumption among religious believers is that a divine entity created the universe. The accounts in the biblical book of Genesis affirm this belief. Some scientists have perceived the possibility that the known universe may have initiated spontaneously with a so-called “big bang.”

Divine Creation or Big Bang? Both of these theories are only hypotheses that can be neither proved nor disproved.

Just Right: The anthropic principle is the contention that the properties of the known universe are "just right" to allow the initiation and support of life. Some physicists have called the Anthropic Principle the "Goldilocks Principle” since all of the necessary parameters exhibit "just- right" values to enable life to begin and evolve.

The “just right” parameters: Gravity is just strong enough to keep the universe from collapsing, but just weak enough that stars and planets could coalesce. The electromagnetic force of the outpouring of light and heat from stars is just sufficient to balance the gravitational forces of their own masses, which try to make them collapse. The strong nuclear force is just strong enough to hold the nucleuses of atoms together, even though the positively charged protons try to repel each other. The resonance level of carbon, which is the basic building block of life, is just sufficient that pair bonding of helium nucleuses can occur to produce carbon molecules. Supernovas have occurred, not too close to earth and not too far away, so that their shockwaves have been just sufficient to cause planets to coalesce and to make heavy elements available for the formation of life.

The Anthropic Principle implies that the universe was carefully designed by a divine entity. How else could the conditions be "just right" to allow the initiation and support of life.

The Anthropic Principle implies that the universe was carefully designed by a divine entity. How else could the conditions be "just right" to allow the initiation and support of life. The Anthropic Principle may not prove the existence of God or that a divine being created the universe, but it provides perhaps the strongest circumstantial evidence that humans are likely to find in affirmation of the ancient religious tradition of divine creation.

The Singularity: Physicists, in their quest to explain the “singularity," i.e., the instant of creation at the so-called "Big Bang,” continually seek an explanation of creation that is internal to received physics theory.

The Physicists Explanation: In 2010, physicists Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow published their book entitled The Grand Design.

The Physicists Explanation: In 2010, physicists Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow published their book entitled The Grand Design. They make the case that our universe is but one of an infinite number of universes with different laws of physics that were birthed spontaneously in the Big Bang.

The Physicists Explanation: In 2010, physicists Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow published their book entitled The Grand Design. They make the case that our universe is but one of an infinite number of universes with different laws of physics that were birthed spontaneously in the Big Bang. Our universe happens to be one (and there may be others) that has just the right characteristics to support life, but it is also the only universe that we can observe by virtue of being inhabitants of it.

While it may be mathematically possible for an infinite number of other universes to exist (or to have existed), there is as yet no credible evidence of their existence.

Although they do not explicitly deny the existence of God, Hawking and Mlodinow conclude that a divine being was not necessary to the spontaneous occurrence of the Big Bang, to the properties of a universe that can support life, or to the establishment of the physical laws that govern the observable universe.

The physicists’ multiple-universe theory is an alternative to the primitive biblical theory.

The challenging question for present-day Christians is whether the multiple-universe theory suffices to displace the primitive biblical theory.

The physicists’ multiple-universe theory is an alternative to the primitive biblical theory. The challenging question for present-day Christians is whether the multiple-universe theory suffices to displace the primitive biblical theory. A possible reconciliation of the big bang theory with the idea of divine creation is that a divine entity may have sparked the big bang that created the universe.

Miracles? If a divine entity did indeed establish the laws of physics that govern the known universe, the divine entity must have the power to intervene in the laws, i.e., to performs “miracles.”

Miracles? If a divine entity did indeed establish the laws of physics that govern the known universe, the divine entity must have the power to intervene in the laws, i.e., to performs “miracles.” The fact that human scientists have been able to identify the laws of physics of the known universe with high degree of confidence suggests that the divine entity rarely intervenes, at least in the physical aspects of the universe.

This presentation may be viewed in essay form on-line at: Click on “Selected Essays” Click on “The Anthropic Principle”