A perfect pairing? Beneath the surface, religion and science have common bonds
Peter Bartels
Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: Opinion
Recently, a renowned British physicist has been in the news for making some serious scientific strides. Unfortunately, the particulars of these strides are a bit out of my grasp, but I'll try to boil them down as best I can. For the last 40 years, Peter Higgs has been inching ever closer to an explanation of the origins of our universe. For all the research that physicists have done regarding the Big Bang Theory, there is still a gap between what has been mathematically proven and what still remains a mystery. Higgs, however, believes that he has found one more step in the process of closing that gap, a discovery that has come to be called the "God particle."
This particle, the existence of which Higgs claims to be on the verge of proving, is said to give other particles their mass, and would therefore be vital in explaining many of the questions scientists have yet to answer regarding the birth of matter and life as we know it. Higgs hopes to make this discovery under conditions that would hurl particles at each other at the practical speed of light, but the implications of this breakthrough involves more than the collision of particles.
Historically, man has always looked to the supernatural when faced with the inexplicable. Theisms, religions and faiths are all belief systems that center on the existence of some sort of deity or supernatural being. All are based on explaining what logic, observation and science cannot. Now, however, our world is full of knowledge gleaned from scientific research, and the proportion of the unexplained to the understood is continually shrinking. Given the ever-growing amassment of scientific information today, it seems that we have little else to wonder at or believe in.
Higgs' discovery in particular takes a swing at one of the deepest and most baffling mysteries of our world: Its origin. Those who believe in God can accept the Big Bang Theory because there is still the missing piece of whom or what was there to start it. Many point to this gap as proof that God, or something similar to a god, exists. Higgs' "God particle" however, would effectively fill this gap, leaving even less room for the presence of an omnipotent, supernatural being.
This particle, the existence of which Higgs claims to be on the verge of proving, is said to give other particles their mass, and would therefore be vital in explaining many of the questions scientists have yet to answer regarding the birth of matter and life as we know it. Higgs hopes to make this discovery under conditions that would hurl particles at each other at the practical speed of light, but the implications of this breakthrough involves more than the collision of particles.
Historically, man has always looked to the supernatural when faced with the inexplicable. Theisms, religions and faiths are all belief systems that center on the existence of some sort of deity or supernatural being. All are based on explaining what logic, observation and science cannot. Now, however, our world is full of knowledge gleaned from scientific research, and the proportion of the unexplained to the understood is continually shrinking. Given the ever-growing amassment of scientific information today, it seems that we have little else to wonder at or believe in.
Higgs' discovery in particular takes a swing at one of the deepest and most baffling mysteries of our world: Its origin. Those who believe in God can accept the Big Bang Theory because there is still the missing piece of whom or what was there to start it. Many point to this gap as proof that God, or something similar to a god, exists. Higgs' "God particle" however, would effectively fill this gap, leaving even less room for the presence of an omnipotent, supernatural being.
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