5 Scientific Theories That Mesh With Faith

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There is a common misconception that faith and science are mutually exclusive. A person cannot believe in one without abandoning the other. This fallacy is unfortunate because it deprives people who believe it of half of their possible knowledge base. Believing only religious truths and ignoring science leaves a person with nothing more than a surface understanding of the world and can result in a person who never questions anything. Curiosity, after all, is the foundation of science, and there are few disciplines that encourage the growth of curiosity and investigation like science. Abandoning faith in favor of science, on the other hand, results in a person who is cynical and often overlooks the beauty of the world. Without a sense for and belief in some sort of higher power or spiritual world, a person begins to feel that their life is irrelevant. Oblivion is all that awaits a person after this life ends, so what is the point? A lack of faith can also deprive a person of their appreciation of beauty or mystery. If logic, rationality and utility is all that matters, where is the space for the simple beauty of flowers or the awe that comes when a person feels dwarfed by the sea?

Thankfully, there is no reason that a person cannot be both devout and scientifically minded. Some elements of faith and science might take a bit of mental gymnastics to blend, but much of this can be achieved through merely looking at religious texts a different way. Holy texts, after all, are being interpreted by fallible human minds. There is no way to be certain that a particular interpretation is correct. As such, it is perfectly reasonable to believe that an interpretation that sets science and faith against each other is flawed, and many religious beliefs fit easily within the framework of proven science. Here are five scientific theories that mesh with faith.

The Big Bang

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The Big Bang is the most commonly accepted explanation for how the universe began. According to this theory, the universe began as a “cosmic egg” that contained all four known forces of nature. This “egg” suddenly exploded outward to create the beginnings of the universe. The universe expanded rapidly, and the material generated by this explosion of creation slowly solidified into stars, planets and galaxies. Astronomers can see echoes of the Big Bang through the cosmic microwave background. The cosmic microwave background is what remains of the earliest light in the universe. Despite researchers’ ability to observe the immediate remnants of the Big Bang, no one knows why the Big Bang occurred, when it did or why the speed of the expansion of the universe has varied over time.

Religion may have the answer to this question. Abrahamic religions claim that God created the world from nothing. A “cosmic egg” made purely of natural forces is about as “nothing” as it possibly gets. There is no good scientific answer for why the Big Bang occurred, and science claims that something cannot come from nothing. That, however, is exactly what occurred during the Big Bang and during the Abrahamic accounts of creation.

Hindu and Asatru ideas about creation also fit neatly with the Big Bang. Both Hinduism and Asatru hold that this universe will one day be destroyed, but another universe will rise from its ashes. This meshes well with a theory that states that the universes are created through the destruction of other universes. According to this theory, this is what awaits matter sucked into a black hole. Such a theory fits neatly with the idea of a cycle of birth and death for the universe.

Supernovas and Star Death

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Stars are born, live and die just like everything else in the universe. When these massive, celestial nuclear reactors run out of fuel, they go dark in the same way a fire goes out when it runs out of logs to burn. Extinguishing a star, however, is a far more extensive and explosive process than putting out a campfire.

When a star runs out of fuel, it begins to expand. It can swell to be several times its usual size. Then, it explodes outward with a massive burst of light, radiation, gas and dust. This explosion is called a supernova and is visible millions of light years away. Supernovas are often plainly visible in the night sky because stars will suddenly become much brighter than usual, or an entirely new star will appear in the sky because its light is suddenly powerful enough to reach Earth. Then, the star fades away. The sudden appearance and disappearance of supernovas, as well as their incredible brightness, has led some people to theorize that the Star of Bethlehem was a supernova.

Beyond the story of Christ’s birth, supernovas and star death fit neatly with Christian ideas about the end of the world. According to Revelations 6, when the sixth seal is opened “the sun [will turn] black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon [will turn] blood red, and the stars in the sky [will fall] to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens [will recede] like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island [will be] removed from its place.” This chain of events is a reasonably accurate description of what will happen to Earth when the sun, like every star, eventually dies. As the sun dies, its light will decrease, and it will dim as it runs out of fuel. Then, it will expand and swallow Mercury and Venus. The gravity of the sun will strip away Earth’s atmosphere, causing the heavens to “recede.” The moon will be superheated, turning it red, while solar wind might well push debris toward Earth and causing massive showers of meteorites. This could be considered to be the falling stars, or Revelations could be referring to the layers of gas and dust the sun will leave behind as it contracts once more. If Earth survived at all, the planet would be completely uninhabitable and completely unrecognizable. The massive gravity of the sun would have torn at the tectonic plates of the Earth, thus removing “every mountain and island…from its place.”

Gravitational Time Dilation

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Gravitational time dilation sounds like something out of a cheesy sci-fi movie. This theory posits that time slows down the more it interacts with gravity. Clocks would thus run faster on Earth than just outside of a black hole.

The theory sounds ridiculous and outlandish, but there is actually quite a bit of evidence supporting the theory. Gravitational time dilation fits with the Theory of Relativity which itself is supported by a veritable mountain of evidence. Furthermore, gravitational time dilation has actually been observed by humans. Clocks run slightly faster in orbit, farther from Earth’s gravity, than they do on the planet itself, closer to Earth’s center of gravity.

Gravitational time dilation could be the answer to an argument between Abrahamic religions and science: how long did it take the universe to form? The scientific answer is 13.8 billion years so far because the universe is still expanding and growing. Scripture says it took God six days, seven if you count His day of rest. These two answers seem completely incompatible, but gravitational time dilation could be what links them together. If God formed the universe from the cosmic egg, which would have contained the entire force of gravity, time would run very, very, very slowly near Him. If time was measured near the place where God started creation, seven days might well have actually been several billion years, and this is assuming that neither God nor His act of creation created any gravity on their own.

Extraterrestrials

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Aliens are everyone’s favorite astronomical phenomenon to debate. Is there life on other planets or is Earth truly unique? While there is currently no proof that humanity is not alone, the increasing number of Earth-like-planets that have been discovered mean there are good odds that there is life somewhere else in the universe. Whether that life is intelligent or simply singled celled organisms that are the extraterrestrial equivalent of an amoeba is a different question entirely. Either way, however, the idea of alien life so captures human imaginations that many people have wondered if the existence of extraterrestrials would fit within current theological ideologies. The truth is, they would.

Nowhere in the book of Genesis does it say that there is no life anywhere other than earth. Instead, it mentions another race of beings called the Nephilim, and apocryphal versions of Genesis state that there were children that Eve tried to hide from God. God, in turn, sent these children away and separated them from their human parents. Could these have become the mothers and fathers of alien races? There is also the fact that extraterrestrial life does not have to be advanced or intelligent. The verses in Revelations sound a great deal like the fate of the Earth when the sun expands and collapses. Perhaps alien life has begun on other planets and will truly take off once Earth is erased.

Other religions are even more accepting of the idea of extraterrestrial life. Many indigenous and folk religions deal with gods, spirits or star people who come from space. Some Eastern religions believe in multiple forms of sentient life such as the hungry ghosts of Buddhism. These could be interpreted to be forms of alien life.

Multiple Universes

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The concept of multiple universes is a staple in comics and superhero stories. This theory, however, is slowly accumulating real-life evidence. It also fits into existing religious frameworks better than most people realize. Hinduism, Buddhism and several Pagan traditions all feel that time is more circular than linear and that as one universe is destroyed another is created. This may not fit with what most people think of when they contemplate multiple universes, but it does fit a theory that combines black holes and multiple universes. This theory states that the matter that is destroyed by black holes is spit back out on the other side of the event horizon. There, the matter creates a new universe. From the ashes of one universe, another is born.

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Science and faith do not have to be mutually exclusive. They actually fit rather well together, and without both of them, humanity is missing something vital. As Einstein himself said, “Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.” There is a great deal of truth to that quote. Science can strip the beauty and awe from the world and turn people into cynics. However, religion without the logic and reason of science can too easily lead to fanaticism. Science and religion are two halves of a circle, remove one and the whole circle falls apart leaving the world bereft of true understanding.

For more inspiring content, check out Radiant Studios’ series An Incomplete Education about a father and daughter attempting to survive after a viral pandemic plagues the world. Despite their circumstances, they ultimately find hope and joy and will inspire you to do the same, no matter what hardships you may be facing today.

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