Yahoo Answers is shutting down on 4 May 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

?
Lv 7

Why do religious types have such a problem with the Big Bang theory?

Not all of them, true: but you often find them deriding the Big Bang theory as being incompatible with a belief in a god.

I find this odd. Indeed, I would go so far as saying that the opposite ought to be the case - that theists ought to be embracing the Big Bang theory as something that SUPPORTS their beliefs.

The Big Bang theory postulates that space and time (ie the whole of existence) were created together in a single cataclysmic moment. We know an awful lot about what happened afterwards, but as far as I know, no physicist or cosmologist has ever explained (or even tried to explain) why the Big Bang happened when it did, and in the manner it did; or what (if anything) happened beforehand.

This, I would have thought, should be where the theists leap in. The Christian bible (I'm aware that there are other creation myths, but this is the one that I know most about) says that a god created the universe; but doesn't go into any detail as to how exactly he did it.

What if it were: "Let there be light!" ... BANG.

And there you have it. God the creator starting the ball rolling, and scientific observation confirming the fact. Surely everyone ought to be happy with this?

But no. It's "How dare you believe in the Big Bang - it conflicts with Genesis."

I am at a loss to understand this point of view.

13 Answers

Relevance
  • BJ
    Lv 7
    6 years ago

    Does the Bible’s creation account rule out the possibility that the universe began with the big bang?

    The Bible simply says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”Genesis 1:1

    It does not comment on exactly how God created everything. So even if a cosmic explosion produced our universe, that would not contradict what is stated in the Bible.

    Rather, Genesis 1:1 would answer the question, Who caused the big bang?

    Of course, many scientists believe that the big bang was a spontaneous, undirected event that led to the self-arranging of particles of matter into stars and planets over a period of time.

    The Bible does not support that view but states that the formation of the universe was a direct act of God, whether he employed some sort of cosmic explosion or some other method of creation.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    6 years ago

    It's only the Young Earth Creationists that religiously oppose the Big Bang Theory. They do so simply because the billions-of-years-old Universe that the Big Bang model describes contradicts their religious belief that the Universe is less than 10,000 years old.

    It's not really the idea that the Universe formed from a singularity that underwent a Big Bang that contradicts their beliefs. It's the idea that the current state of the Universe is the result of formation by natural processes over billions of years that does it. They believe that the current state of the Universe is the result of God miraculously and supernaturally and personally creating each and every individual celestial object and life form that exists in our Universe in a relatively short period of time (for most, in a few days; for some at most a few thousand years).

  • ?
    Lv 7
    6 years ago

    Why do religious types have such a problem with the Big Bang theory?

    - Big words and big concepts, they need single syllable words to understand.

  • Anonymous
    6 years ago

    Fun Fact: The person that proposed the Big Bang Theory is Georges Lemaitre, a Belgian priest, astronomer, and professor of physics.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    6 years ago

    "Religious types" do not. In fact, most do look at it as you have explained. Fringe fundamentalist groups are the science deniers. They are looked upon with pity by the majority of believers. Most of the Judeo-Christian faithful can easily recognize that the Holy Bible is NOT a science textbook. But to answer your question, these sad folks have bee lied to by their cult preachers about theology and also about science (obviously). You are quite correct, science cannot answer what happened before the big bang, or what might have prompted the event, although there are many who speculate on the possibilities.

    As many have already pointed out, the concept of the "big bang" was first proposed by Msgr. Georges Lamaitre (see "The Primeval Atom").

    The US is the only first world country where this subject is even debated. In other first world countries, the science deniers are rightly looked down upon as a lunatic fringe.

    The National Center for Science Education found, of Americans in the twelve largest Christian denominations, at least 77% belong to churches that support science education, including human evolution.

    The mainstream Christian churches are finally starting to speak out against the heretical, fanatical, flawed views of the YECs and other fringe groups that deny evolution, the big bang, abiogenesis, etc.

    Here is an excerpt:

    "We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist. We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this truth or to treat it as “one theory among others” is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children. We believe that among God’s good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our Creator. To argue that God’s loving plan of salvation for humanity precludes the full employment of the God-given faculty of reason is to attempt to limit God, an act of hubris...We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth."

    -The Clergy Letter, signed by thousands of pastors

    http://www.theclergyletterproject.org/

  • 6 years ago

    Most Christians accept scientific discovery.

    The Big Bang was first postulated by the Vatican Astronomer.

  • 6 years ago

    I agree, especially since it was a Catholic Priest who first postulated the theory.

  • ?
    Lv 6
    6 years ago

    The Big Bang Theory has been proven incorrect this year by secular scientists. If you want to pander to science, and put all of your eggs there, at least keep up with current events.

  • 6 years ago

    <<religious types>>

    Which one ?

    << with the Big Bang theory>>

    Its author was a religious guy : chanoine Georges Lemaître.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lema%C3%AEtr...

  • ?
    Lv 7
    6 years ago

    Read their questions all are repeated over and over again and this shows they have problem with anything that is constructive.

Still have questions? Get answers by asking now.