Has Science Found God?: The Latest Results in the Search for Purpose in the Universe

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Prometheus Books, 2003 - Religion - 373 pages
In the past few years a number of scientists have claimed that there is credible scientific evidence for the existence of God. In 1998 Newsweek went so far as to proclaim on its cover, "Science Finds God." Is this true? Are scientists close to solving the greatest of all mysteries? Physicist Victor J. Stenger delves into this fascinating question from a skeptical point of view in this lucid and engrossing presentation of the key scientific facts.
Stenger critically reviews the attempts of many contemporary theologians and some scientists to resurrect failed natural theologies in new guises. Whether these involve updated arguments from design, "anthropic" coincidences, or modern forms of deism, Stenger clearly shows that nothing in modern science requires supernatural explanation. He offers naturalistic explanations for empirical observations that are frequently given theistic interpretations: for example, that information in the universe implies an intelligent designer, that a universe with a beginning requires a Creator, and that the elegant laws of physics suggest a transcendent realm. He shows that alleged spiritual, nonmaterial phenomena do not lie beyond the experimental reach of physics.
This thorough and careful consideration of scientific evidence covers much ground yet remains accessible and highly informative to the educated lay reader.

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Contents

Preface
9
The Bells of St Marys
29
The Menace of Darwinism
43
Copyright

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About the author (2003)

Victor J. Stenger was born on January 29, 1935. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Newark College of Engineering (now New Jersey Institute of Technology) in 1956, a Master of Science degree in physics from UCLA in 1959, and a Ph.D. in physics in 1963. He worked as an elementary particle physicist for numerous years. He also was a professor at the University of Colorado and the University of Hawaii. He was an advocate against psychics, pseudoscience and religion. During his lifetime, he wrote 13 books including Not By Design: The Origin of the Universe; Physics and Psychics: The Search for a World Beyond the Senses; God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist; God and the Folly of Faith: The Fundamental Incompatibility of Religion; God and the Atom: From Democritus to the Higgs Boson; and God and the Multiverse: Humanity's Expanding View of the Universe. He died of an aneurysm on August 27, 2014 at the age of 79.

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