Tuesday 22 March 2011

Wonders of the Universe

I’ve been enjoying Brian Cox’s latest science series Wonders of the Universe. Having studied Physics as part of a joint honours degree, albeit a long time ago, I feel ashamed that so much of the first programme on ‘Time’ came fresh to me. If it left me with nothing else, my time studying Physics has given me an interest in what we now call ‘popular’ science. What struck me most about Prof. Cox’s TV lecture was the immensity of both time and space – yes, of course I already had an idea that the universe was big and that light from stars can take hundreds of years to reach us. I just hadn’t realised quite how big the universe is, or how young it is.

It seems that the universe is 13.7 billion years old – I knew that – but I didn’t know that there is a calculation that says that the universe is likely to last for 1x10150 years. In a similar vein, if we took away every star and galaxy that we can see we our most powerful galaxy it would make not discernable difference to the mass of the universe.I'm not sure whether or not this includes dark matter and dark energy, but it doesn't seeem to matter a lot in the general scheme of things.


The place of life in this universe is interesting. It is an issue which Christians have debated with non-believers, because of the need for certain conditions to pertain for life to exist. Is this evidence of design or 'just the way it is'? What is certain – at least I think it is – is that it is only life that can reflect on the universe and – and this is my own thought – only life that can move outside the mechanisms of chance or cause and effect.


I guess that the biggest ‘I hadn’t thought of that’ moment came afterwards when I realised what a big deal Copernicus’s On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres is in the history of science and faith. I don’t think that Christian people think too much about it and I understand that it took some years for the Church to grasp the import it had. Copernicus’s theory that the earth is only the centre of itself and that just the moon revolves around it is a very big deal. Copernicus argued that our sun is the centre of the universe and that we are on just one among a number of planets that orbit it. In proposing this theory Copernicus was undermining the idea that human beings are special… and I’m not sure that Christian people have ever really got to grips with that.


Sidney Carter wrote a carol in which he questioned whether there might be other mangers on other planets. It’s not one that gets sung too often, but it poses an interesting question and, if Christian people are to seriously engage with the ‘new atheists’ it – and its wider implications – need to be addressed.


I’m still wrestling with these issues and would welcome comments from Christians and others with a view.


This site offers some interesting observations: http://www.faithinterface.com.au/science-christianity/christianity-and-science-natural-links