AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion

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Cosmic Questions
14-16 April 1999
National Museum of Natural History
Washington, DC

 

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About

From the dawn of culture human beings have sought to understand their place in the universe. They have told religious stories and engaged in philosophical speculation. Some of these stories and some of this speculation provided assumptions about the intelligibility and contingency of the cosmos. These presuppositions served as foundations for the emergence of modern science.

Copernicus and Galileo sparked a transformation of human thought about the universe. Combining mathematical construction with empirical observations it led to the discovery of laws of nature that extended from the earth to the heavens. but it is in this century that cosmology has become a science in its own right. today it brings together relativity theory, quantum physics, and observational astronomy. even biology is beginning to include a cosmic dimension with the sub-field of astrobiology.

In the 20th century the discovery of the scale of our milky way galaxy, the vast number of distant galaxies, the age and expansion of the universe, and the remnant radiation from the big bang have completely changed our ideas of the magnitude of the cosmos in both space and time. Recent discoveries, including that of distant galaxies in very early stages of formation, probable liquid water on moons of Jupiter, and planets outside the solar system, now bring richer possibilities for understanding the evolution of stellar and planetary systems and of life in the universe.

At the same time, these discoveries and associated theoretical developments raise questions that have religious significance about the origin and nature of the cosmos and the place and meaning of human life in the universe. Although there is broad scientific consensus on the hot big bang model as the best general account of the evolution of the cosmos, there are competing theoretical views about how the big bang started and what might have come before. What was the cosmic state of affairs before the big bang? Is the cosmos eternal or did time itself have a beginning? The natural constants seem to have just the right values to produce a universe in which thinking beings are possible, beings who can ask about the origin and structure of the cosmos. In the light of this so-called "fine-tuning" is it appropriate to view the cosmos as designed? Does meaning in the cosmos have some universal ground? What is the probability that life-and even intelligent life-exists elsewhere in the universe? Were intelligent life to exist, what would be its religious significance?

Western religious cosmogonies have held that the universe has a beginning in which time itself begins and have presumed that ours is the only universe that exists. However, current theoretical exploration of the state of affairs before the big bang are suggesting either that time has no beginning or that our universe is but one of many.

Historically, the religious conviction, that the origination and continuing existence of the universe is founded upon the intentionality of a faithful, rational creator god who is distinct from the world, served as an intellectual foundation for the development of empirical science. Yet ironically, in the words of laplace, celestial mechanics "has no need of that hypothesis." An the other hand, the observation that this universe seems "fine-tuned" suggests to some that a "god hypothesis" is not only reasonable but intellectually appropriate.

Finally, while various religious traditions have included beliefs in non-terrestrial beings (e.g., angels and demons), the implicit geocentric historical focus of these traditions has not seriously entertained the idea that there could be other sentient beings similar to humanity resident on other planets among the stars, beings with their own authoritative religious histories. Evidence for possible hospitable environments for extraterrestrial life in our solar system increases, and discoveries of extra-solar planets enhances the possibility of life, sentience and intelligence beyond this solar system, raise questions about the religious and moral distinctiveness of humanity.

There has been little public consideration of these cosmic questions and most of that that has occurred has been for a scholarly audience. This conference provides a unique opportunity for renown scientists and religious scholars to engage one another and a public audience on issues at the interface of science and religion, issues which are transforming our understanding of the cosmos and the place of humanity in it.

Therefore, the purpose of this conference is to bring together an eminent group of astronomers, cosmologists, philosophers and religious scholars to review recent astronomical findings and developments in theoretical cosmology and to discuss three broad questions that they raise: Was the universe created? Is the cosmos designed? Are we alone?