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Fr. Robert Spitzer, SJ - The Evidence of Creation and Supernatural Design in Contemporary Big Bang Cosmology and Space-Time Geometry Proofs

Fr. Robert Spitzer, SJ, with responses by Fr. Michael Dodds, OP and Fr. Anselm Ramelow, OP

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Text of Response by Fr. Michael Dodds, OP
Text of Response by Fr. Anselm Ramelow, OP

The new popular atheism movement may lead one to suspect that faith and science are opposed to one another. Fr. Spitzer addressed (in layman's terms) the three most significant kinds of evidence for intelligent creation from physics (space-time geometry proofs, new evidence from entropy, and fine-tuning of cosmological constants). He gave special consideration to recent theories concerning eternal inflation, the multiverse hypothesis, and a bouncing universe (in the higher-dimensional space of string theory) to show that these hypotheses also require a definitive beginning.

In the words of Alexander Vilenkin (Director of the Institute of Cosmology at Tufts University): “It is said that an argument is what convinces reasonable men and a proof is what it takes to convince even an unreasonable man. With the proof now in place, cosmologists can no longer hide behind the possibility of a past-eternal universe…There is no escape, they have to face the problem of a cosmic beginning.”

Fr. Robert Spitzer, SJ, is the President of the Magis Center of Reason and Faith magis, the Spitzer Center for Catholic Organizations spitzer, and the Ethics and Performance Institute. He has three master's degrees (Divinity, Theology, Scripture) and a PhD in Philosophy of Science. His most recent book is New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy spitzer.

Fr. Michael Dodds, OP, is Professor of Philosophy and Theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, a member of The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences ctns and author of Unlocking Divine Action: Contemporary Science and Thomas Aquinas from Catholic University of America Press.

Fr. Anselm Ramelow, OP, is Associate Professor of Philosophy and the Chair of Philosophy at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. His research interests include philosophy of religion and he has published on the topic of understanding seeking faith.