The Case for a Creator (52 page)

54
. See: Henry Gee,
In Search of
Deep Time: Beyond the Fossil Record to a New History of Life
(New York: The Free Press, 1999).

55
. See: Ian Tattersall, “Paleoanthropology and Preconception,” in: W. Eric Meikle, F. Clark Howell, and Nina G. Jablonski, editors,
Contemporary Issues in Human Evolution
, Memoir 21 (San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, 1996); Geoffrey A. Clark, “Through a Glass Darkly: Conceptual Issues in Modern Human Origins Research,” in G. A. Clark and C. M. Willermet, editors,
Conceptual Issues in
Modern Human Origins Research
(New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1997), quoted in: Jonathan Wells,
Icons of
Evolution,
223.

56
. See: Misia Landau,
Narratives of Human Evolution
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991).

57
. F. Clark Howell, “Thoughts on the Study and Interpretation of the Human Fossil Record,” in W. Eric Meikle, F. Clark Howell, and Nina G. Jablonski, editors,
Contemporary Issues in Human Evolution
, Memoir 21.

58
. For a critique of “punctuated equilibrium,” see: Phillip E. Johnson,
Darwin on Trial
, 50, 52, 58, 60–61, 120, 141, 153, 184–185, 187.

59
. Jonathan Wells,
Icons of Evolution
, 188.

Chapter 4: Where Science Meets Faith

1
. Steven Weinberg, “A Designer Universe?”
The New York Review of Books
(October 21, 1999), adapted from a talk given at the Conference on Cosmic Design of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C., April 1999 (emphasis added).

2
. John Polkinghorne,
Quarks, Chaos, and Christianity
(New York: Crossroad, 1994), xii.

3
. Sharon Begley, “Science Finds God,”
Newsweek
(July 20, 1998).

4
. Ibid.

5
. See: Dean H. Kenyon and Gary Steinman,
Biochemical Predestination
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969).

6
. Allan Sandage, “A Scientist Reflects on Religious Belief,” available at:
www.leaderu.com/truth/1truthtml
(January 7, 2003).

7
. J. P. Moreland,
Christianity and the Nature of Science
, 103.

8
. Review of Carl Sagan,
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
(New York: Ballantine, 1997) in the
New York Review of Books
(January 9, 1997).

9
. Stephen Jay Gould, “Nonoverlapping Magisteria,”
Natural History
106 (March 1997). See also: Stephen Jay Gould,
Rocks of Ages
(New York: Ballantine, 1999).

10
. Stephen Jay Gould,
Rocks of Ages
, 14.

11
. Phillip E. Johnson, “The Church of Darwin,”
Wall Street Journal
(August 16, 1999).

12
. See: Malcolm W. Browne, “Clues to Universe Origin Expected,”
New York Times
(March 12, 1978).

13
. Fred Hoyle, “The Universe: Past and Present Reflections,”
Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophyics
20 (1982).

14
. Paul Davies,
The Cosmic Blueprint
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988), 203.

15
. Richard Dawkins,
River Out of Eden
(New York: Basic Books, 1995), 10.

16
. Steven H. Gifis,
Law Dictionary
(Woodbury, N.Y.: Barron’s Educational Series, 1975), 33–34.

17
. David Briggs, “Science, Religion Are Discovering Commonality in Big Bang Theory,”
Los Angeles
Times
(May 2, 1992).

18
. See: Michael Shermer,
How We Believe
(New York: W. H. Freeman, 2000), 72–73, 251.

19
. Sharon Begley, “Science Finds God,”
Newsweek
(July 20, 1998).

20
. Michael Shermer,
How We Believe
, xxix.

21
. Kenneth R. Miller,
Finding Darwin’s God
(New York: Cliff Street Books, paperback edition, 2000), 28.

22
. Ibid., 101.

23
. Ibid.

24
. G. C. Williams,
Natural Selection: Domains, Levels and Challenges
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), 73, 72.

25
. George Ayoub, “On the Design of the Vertebrate Retina,”
Origins & Design
17:1, Winter, 1996.

26
. Romans 8:22: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”`

Chapter 5: The Evidence of Cosmology: Beginning with a Bang

1
. Gregg Easterbrook, “The New Convergence,”
Wired
(December 2002).

2
. C. J. Isham, “Creation of the Universe as a Quantum Process,” in: R. J. Russell, W. R. Stoeger, and G. V. Coyne, editors,
Physics, Philosophy, and Theology
(Vatican City State: Vatican Observatory, 1988), 378, quoted in William Lane Craig,
Reasonable Faith
(Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, revised edition, 1994), 328.

3
.
Discover
(April 2002).

4
. Genesis 1:1.

5
. “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light”—Genesis 1:3.

6
. This is not to suggest that questions concerning the age of the universe aren’t important. My goal at this point, however, was to sidestep biblical debates over this issue and instead see whether the evidence most widely conceded by non-Christian scientists pointed toward or away from God.

7
. Steven Weinberg,
The First Three Minutes
(New York: Basic Books, updated edition, 1988), 5.

8
. Ibid.

9
. Ibid., 6.

10
. Bill Bryson,
A Short History of Nearly Everything
(New York: Broadway, 2003), 10.

11
. Ibid., 13.

12
. Quoted in Robert Jastrow,
God and the Astronomers
(New York: W. W. Norton, second edition, 1992), 104.

13
. Dennis Overbye, “Are They
a)
Geniuses or
b)
Jokers?”
New York Times
(November 9, 2002).

14
. Bill Bryson,
A Short History of Nearly Everything
, 13.

15
. See: Stuart C. Hackett,
The Resurrection of Theism
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, second edition, 1982).

16
. William Lane Craig and Mark S. McLeod, editors,
The Logic of Rational Theism: Exploratory Essays
(Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen, 1990), 11.

17
. William Lane Craig,
Reasonable Faith
, 92.

18
. William Lane Craig and Quentin Smith,
Theism, Atheism and Big Bang Cosmology
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), 135.

19
. Timothy Ferris,
The Whole Shebang
(New York: Touchstone, 1998), 265.

20
. Brad Lemley, “Guth’s Grand Guess,”
Discover
(April 2002).

21
. Ibid., 35.

22
. David Hume,
The Letters of David Hume
, Two Volumes, J.Y.T. Greig, editor (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1932), 1:187, quoted in: William Lane Craig,
Reasonable Faith
, 93.

23
. Stephen W. Hawking and Roger Penrose,
The Nature of Space and Time
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1996), 20.

24
. Kai Nielsen,
Reason and Practice
(New York: Harper & Row, 1971), 48.

25
. Robert Jastrow,
God and the Astronomers
(New York: W.W. Norton, revised edition, 1992), 14.

26
. George H. Smith,
Atheism
(Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 1989), 239 (emphasis in original).

27
. David M. Brooks,
The Necessity of Atheism
(New York: Freethought Press Association, 1933), 102–103, quoted in: Ibid.

28
. For a summary of evidence for the Resurrection see: Lee Strobel,
The Case for Easter
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2004).

29
. George H. Smith,
Atheism
, 237.

30
. Edmund Whittaker,
The Beginning and End of the World
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1942), quoted in: Robert Jastrow,
God and the Astronomers
, 103, (emphasis added).

31
. George H. Smith,
Atheism
, 237.

32
. Einstein made this comment in a letter to Willem DeSitter. See: Robert Jastrow,
God and the Astronomers
, 21.

33
. Robert Jastrow,
God and the Astronomers
, 21. Said Jastow of Einstein: “We know he had well-defined feelings about God, but not as the Creator or the Prime Mover. For Einstein, the existence of God was proven by the laws of nature; that is, the fact that there was order in the Universe and man could discover it.”

34
. Ibid., 104.

35
. Ibid., 105.

36
. Bill Bryson,
A Short History of Nearly Everything
, 13.

37
. See: Joseph Silk,
The Big Bang
(San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1989), 311–12.

38
. Carl Sagan,
Cosmos
(New York: Ballantine, 1993), 4.

39
. See: Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters News Agency, “Princeton Physicist Offers Theory of Cyclic Universe,”
Orange County (Calif.) Register
(April 26, 2002).

40
. The Business Week Best-Seller List,
Business Week
(December 31, 2001).

41
. See: Michael Shermer,
How We Believe
, 102.

42
. Ibid.

43
. Stephen Hawking,
A Brief History of Time
(New York: Bantam, 1988), 141.

44
. As a side note, Craig said singularities do not have to be a mathematical point in time, but could theoretically have different geometries.

45
. See: Michael White and John Gribbin,
Stephen Hawking: A Life in Science
(New York: Plume/Penguin, 1992).

46
. Michael Shermer,
How We Believe
, 103.

47
. See: Stephen W. Hawking and Roger Penrose,
The Nature of Space and Time
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1996).

48
. See:
www.hawking.org.uk/about/aindex.html
(accessed June 7, 2003).

49
. The Four Spiritual Laws were written by the late Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, as a summary of the gospel. Law No. 1: God loves you and created you to know him personally. He has a wonderful plan for your life (John 3:16; John 17:3). Law No. 2: People are sinful and separated from God, so we cannot know him personally or experience his life and plan (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23). Law No. 3: Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for our sin. Through him alone we can know God personally and experience God’s love and plan (Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 15:3–6; John 14:6). Law No. 4: We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know God personally and experience his love (John 1:12; Ephesians 2:8, 9; John 3:1–8, Revelation 3:20). See:
www.campuscrusadeforChrist.org
(accessed June 9, 2003).

Chapter 6: The Evidence of Physics: The Cosmosona Razor’s Edge

1
. Paul Davies,
God and the New Physics
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983), 189.

2
. John Templeton,
The Humble Approach: Scientists Discover God
(Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation, 1998), 19.

3
. For a description of the dynamics between Christian and non-Christian spouses, based on the experiences that Leslie and I had during the era when she was a Christian and I was an atheist, see Lee and Leslie Strobel,
Surviving a Spiritual Mismatch in Marriage
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2002).