so basically everyone on here that says that they believe in the big bang theory is pretty much saying that the bible is a lie!?
WELL YOU PEOPLE NEED TO GET A LIFE BECAUSE GOD IS REAL!!! AND APPARENTLY SOME OF YOU NEED TO FIND HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD LOVES AND CARES FOR YOU THERE'S PROOF ALL IN THE BIBLE AND GOD WANTS YOU KNOW THAT HE CREATED THE EARTH AND THAT HE WROTE THE BIBLE HE SPOKE TO THE PROPHETS AND TOLD THEM WHAT TO WRITE! SO THERE FORE THE
BIG BANG' THEORY IS A COMPLETE LIE!
cj - 16 years ago
If god made us from his image why arnt we all little fat blokes with beards? that because he didn't! If he did then that would compleatly rule out the exsistanse of homo erectus (sorry bad spelling) and plenty of scientific experiments that have tons of proof to back them up would be down the drain all because a few people believe that some guy on a cloud made the world and all because they read it in a book that could have been written by anyone at all so your saying i should believe that hogwarts and harry potter a real because i read it somewhere well i dont and if your argument is that science dosn't have any evidance well nither do the blelievers =)
Thomas - 16 years ago
Hey Marta as for evolution, I do not believe we crawled out of the sea nor do I believe we came from fish or monkey. I believe God created man in His on image. As for how God created Heaven and Earth, you may have a point. Only God knows how He did it. But I do know God did it! The biggest problem is that man thinks he know more that God. And then starts to try and make the world think man knows more than God. That's what gets people in trouble.
Marta - 16 years ago
I believe in God and I think He could do anything he wanted to rearrange Himself wherever he wanted. I am very simplistic about science but I also know that as time goes on, our theories can change dramatically as important fundamental "rules" are uncovered...that weren't before. Case in point, The world is flat.
One rule I remember from the 8th grade, which I don't believe has changed, is that: Matter and Energy are never created or destroyed, they simply transmute (right word?) from one form to the other.
My belief in the Big Bang does not refute the Bible. Heck, it doesn't say how he created the earth, just that he did. What if he used the Big Bang method? That method also made the framework of where the world is in the universe and how it's warmed and lighted and ...why am I going on. I simply believe.
Now let's talk about evolution....
:)
Thomas - 16 years ago
Well HLC I've been down both roads myself. Yes I grow up in a religious family. A very close family. I had the best Dad and Mom eneyone could have. I know I broke their hearts some times but the still cared for me. I've had the alcohol, the great sex, party all the time and did what I wanted to do. So I know all about that. You choose you on faith. John just to let you know God brought me back from the edge of death. I know what I saw and I know what I felt. So I know why I choose what I beleive. Sorry if I insulted any of you but I know the reason I beleive in God. I thought I was having fun but when it came time for my life to end I saw the truth. If it's not for you then so be it. But I know where I'll be after death.
HCL, I agree. On a side note, do you also notice how the woman/man of peoples dreams always happen to live in the same city they grew up in? Wow, such luck, eh?
You are right, Thomas, we can all choose our own paths...
But, "So think before you choose because we each answer for what we each do !!!" , makes a call to think. You bookend some of our thought provoking posts with, "If your right then it's my lose, no sweat off you nose."..... Well, this doesn't seem like a well thought out response that makes us understand why you made the choices you chose. So, I really believe you have 'chosen' what you have becouse you either don't care either way, or you are just similarly minded, and went that way be default.
HCL - 16 years ago
Thomas, so you believe people shouldn't wear mixed textiles, that eating shellfish is evil, and that we should stone disrespectful children to death? Have you even read the whole bible? You might try doing that before you believe "no more, no less".
Let me ask you something... is your family religious too? I'm guessing they're all the same christian denomination too. Don't you think that's a tiny little bit suspicious? Muslims, jews, "pagans", and many others all say the EXACT same things you do about feeling the power of their god and whatnot. Are you really so sickeningly arrogant as to dismiss all those millions and millions of people?
Thmas - 16 years ago
Hey guys I have no problem with you fellas doing your thing. If your right then it's my lose, no sweat off you nose. But if I'm right then I won't have to pay the price for John or Pete or Daniel or PGrain or Anyone else who want to have a good time in this life. Like I said I beleive in the Holy Bible!
Thomas - 16 years ago
Well Daniel you may be right. But the God I beleive in is a good God not like the God's of others Ive seen. I've seen and felt His power. And through Hope and Faith we live a good and righteous life. Bottom line is we chose though faith. When my death come then I've got what I've got. I believe God created the earth and I just can't believe we crawled out of the sea or came from a monkey! I believe the Holy Bible and that's it! No more, no less!
"If Ichoose to beleive in God and I die and I'm wrong what have I lost? "
Well, Thomas, how about free choices about alcohol or other minor drugs ,a sex life your friends are envious of, certain foods depending on your religion, speaking your mind if you disagree without being ostracized, and the whole sex thing is worth mentioning again (Use your imagination, that is if you think your god will allow that.).
And if it turns out you don't want these things, then maybe your 'choice' of believing in god is really just a default action since your views on life happen to be generally the same.
@Thomas
What if you choose the wrong god?
Odin may end up pissed off at you.
If you're trying to "play the odds" by picking one god to believe in, be aware that people have believed in thousands of different gods who may or may not be the right one.
http://wiki.ironchariots.org/index.php?title=Pascal%27s_Wager
Thomas - 16 years ago
People can beleive what ever the want. If I choose to beleive in God and I die and I'm wrong what have I lost? But if the world does not beleive in God and I'm right then the 97% to 98% of the people here are in BIG TROUBLE !!! So think before you choose because we each answer for what we each do !!!
Mike - 16 years ago
It's pretty hard to believe there's still some people who don't believe this is how it is. The big bag is very easily accessible to anyone with a high school education so there's really no excuse for ignorance.
Though I guess there are some groups of people who think the Earth is still flat.
Thomas - 16 years ago
People can beleive what ever the want. If Ichoose to beleive in God and I die and I'm wrong what have I lost? But if the world does not beleive in God and I'm right then the 97% to 98% of the people here are in BIG TROUBLE !!! So think before you choose because we each answer for what we each do !!!
Arthur Kierstead - 16 years ago
What's to not believe? The problem with this question is that there are two possible "no" answers that are conflated: "I haven't thought about the matter and don't have any opinion on the early history of the universe", and "I have an alternate theory of the early history of the universe."
Frankly, an awful lot of people fall into the first category, and pollsters should know that not supporting Obama is not the same as supporting McCain or vice-versa.
Among people who've actually investigated the matter, the second category is pretty darn small. There's just too much evidence that the universe originated in a hot, dense state. (How it got to that state is still somewhat mysterious, but the fact that we don't know all of history doesn't mean that the history we do know is fatally flawed. Does our uncertainty regarding the founding of the city of Rome cast doubt on the historicity of the roman empire?)
"I'm constantly amazed by people who use computers and the internet to deny the reality of science, especially physics."
I've thought the same things. Go to the churches nowadays, they all have full speaker systems, digital projectors, buildings that are feats of engineering... Al while saying, "Science doesn't konw anything.", and "Do not build up treasures on Earth."
I belive the big bang is true. Universal expansion is quite a good proof for me. If the universe is expanding, then it was smaller yesterday than it is today. Smaller last week. Smaller last year..... A few billion years ago? Maybe it is the size of a singularity.
MB - 16 years ago
It's unbelievable that people find the argument, "well who created all the stuff out of which the big bang happened?" a compelling reason to invoke a creator. I mean, did you ever think of the question right back at you, "Who created all the stuff that god is made out of?" Of course you haven't because you just go on faith. Sad, sad times in America when so many people are so proudly ignorant.
"God did it" is not an explanation, it's a failure to think, and an unwillingness to admit that you don't know. It is a lapse of logic which in turn leads to even worse lapses such as a detailed description of some fictional sky fairy in a 'holy' book.
The Big Bang is the current best explanation we have for the observable universe and the phenomena we see there. Maybe the LHC will invalidate some of the assumptions we have about that, and we'll have to start over. Which might actually be more interesting than finding the Higgs. But you won't hear scientists screaming that the evidence must be ignored, which is a major difference between scientists and creationists.
cmotdibbler - 16 years ago
I don't think the poll is looking for differences in scientific theories regarding the origin of the universe rather, how many people think an invisible friend created the universe. Who do you believe? The scientists who spend decades studying this stuff or some guy writhing on the ground, speaking in tongues and preaching from a daisy-chain translation of a bronze age book?
David Marjanović - 16 years ago
"a second tier sub-god from a late bronze age myth" -- well, part of it (Yahwe) is. The other part (El Elyon) is the first-tier over-god from the same myth. Only later did people stop thinking that Yahwe was just responsible for their own tribe (like Khemosh for the Moabites) and started forgetting the difference.
PGrain - 16 years ago
To all creationists out there: The big bang happened, it's real. Grow up, read a book, and get over it.
I'm constantly amazed by people who use computers and the internet to deny the reality of science, especially physics.
Adam - 16 years ago
"Out of nothing comes nothing, so the BB couldn't have happened. No gap there, it's just impossible to do."
Congratulations, you have just disproven god. But your statement comes from complete ignorance to the subject, which is physics, not logic games. Y'see, before the Big Bang (if such a "time" can be said to exist) there was EVEN LESS than nothing. There was NO UNIVERSE out there (as far as we know), which means that "nothing" is actually a state that can't exist yet. There is a lack of universe at this point. But from the big bang spawned the universe, and made states like "something" and "nothing" possible. Sound crazy? Read a book instead of saying stupid things, Mike.
Rick - 16 years ago
Wonderful. People are willing to believe in a big daddy in the sky (a second tier sub-god from a late bronze age myth) for which there is no evidence, yet they don’t believe in science that demonstrates that the part of THE UNIVERSE THAT WE CAN SEE originated with the BB. Yes folks, the universe was not created from nothing and your stupid god is a myth.
complex field - 16 years ago
"Out of nothing comes nothing, so the BB couldn't have happened." What part of "the Big Bang does not address what came before itself" do you not understand. Read something other that Zondervan and the PIG books. The selective thinking displayed by creationists is really alarming.
dradger_badger - 16 years ago
Well, the fact that we have measured the radiation left over after the big-bang, meaning scientists have actually seen the afterglow of it, I "believe" in the big-bang theory. I have a tendency to believe in reality.
Skepticism is fine, I was a Big Bang skeptic for years, adhering to the alternative "Steady State" theory of Hoyle. After two decades the Big Bang theory became difficult to deny, however.
But I think there's some skepticism here based on stupidity and lack of education. That isn't acceptable. It may be the reason why the Large Hadron Collider is in Europe, where we don't have quite so much money to play with but we do take science seriously. That's a shame, really, because American scientists did a lot of the science that led to the acceptance of the Big Bang theory. But if enough Americans are stupid enough to believe a poorly educated preacher's interpretation of the bible in preference to the evidence painstakingly built up and interpreted by scientists, maybe it's time the Europeans took over the mantle of leaders in science.
We don't have European ignoramuses putting fairy stories before science.
reverted - 16 years ago
I agree that the word "believe" in the question is unfortunate; it should use "accept" (or something akin). ----- Michael said, "Out of nothing comes nothing, so the BB couldn't have happened. No gap there, it's just impossible to do. ..." ----- Really? We exist; we are here; so... how? "Magic man done it"? Then, who made him? No one? ... Oh yes, that sounds SOOO much more "possible". *roll eyes* How exactly do you explain the vast collection of facts in support of the Big Bang, and the total lack of facts in support of "magic man"? (And, why are you against it, anyway? The theory doesn't really address HOW/WHY it happened, only THAT it happened.)
Phewie - 16 years ago
If you "don't believe" in the Big Bang, then do some research find out what it is all about then make your decision. If you don't understand what the research or the scientists are saying don't assume they are wrong and therefore not believe. Subjects like these, by their nature, are very difficult for the layman to understand, so like it or not you may have to trust the scientists. Surely that makes more sense than other supernatural explanations which can never, ever be proved by anyone at all.
Frederik - 16 years ago
Dear Americans,
Please continue to disbelieve The Big Bang. You've been leading the free world for long enough, it's time let the rest of the world take over...
Out of nothing comes nothing, so the BB couldn't have happened. No gap there, it's just impossible to do. I noticed the survey was posted in a popular atheist blog which then altered the survey.
"Remeber that it used to be heresy to believe that the world went around the sun"
Nobody posting here lived during that time period, the earth was calculated using a math formula which didn't come from any religion. But a religion (not all) did accept it as valid. I can't believe someone still tries to use that argument...lol
Phill - 16 years ago
Your question is badly phrased. You can believe in gods and fairies, but you weigh the evidence for scientific theories.
JB - 16 years ago
What caused the BB?
The BB theory says nothing about what actually caused the BB. It only says that a BB was caused, and from that our universe came to be.
So believing in BB is not believing in any particular reason that caused the BB, merely that the BB actually once happened.
So shat caused the BB? Simple answer is, we don't know. Some might see that as an opening to insert their favourite creater. But lack of knowledge neither strengthens or weakens any particular explanation. Lack of knowledge is not proof of anything other than the fact that we are not omniscient.
Some will say a supreme being has to be the first cause (oversimplified explanaition). But think about this; if you can postulate an always existing supreme being, a sentient cause of BB, you can just as well postulate an always existing non-sentient cause for BB.
So I'll repeat my point: Lack of knowledge never proves or disprove any theory or explanation. Never.
If the universe could not have possibly spring out of nothing, how did your God spring out of nothing?
If your God could spring out of nothing, so could the universe.
If the creator did not need a creator, neither did life.
Futility - 16 years ago
There is no evidence at all for the existence of God (a book written by people long time ago who believed that lightning and thunder are a sign of God's wrath does not constitute evidence!), but an abundance of empirical evidence for the Big Bang. It's astounding how many people are completely ignorant about modern physics in particular and how science works in general.
Kaji - 16 years ago
And we all know the church is never wrong about things, like, you know, the earth being the center of the universe with everything else revolving around it. *eyeroll*
timecarrot - 16 years ago
"Who created the stuff that made the big bang?" The same guy who made God, basically.
Hugo - 16 years ago
We have considerable evidence for the Big Bang taking place, compared to zero evidence for the existence of God.
Until religion can provide a better explanation for how the universe came into being ("God did it." isn't an explanation) I think I'll stick with this.
Jorg - 16 years ago
The only thing funnier than than the stupidity of the premise of this poll is the idiocy displayed by so many of the commenters, who know nothing about nothing (not to mention modern physics and cosmology) and are not embarrassed to display their ignorance in public.
Pacniel - 16 years ago
OK so i havent read all of the discussion going on here as i feel i probably have read the same backwards logic a trillion times. I dont feel like scrolling through 50 Pratts so; i'll name three things you can google and inform yourself about. simple!
WMAP
Cosmic background radiation
Hubbles constant
Brandee - 16 years ago
OK, so, like I am still in high school and work at TCBY, but I, like, totally know that the Big Bang theory is wrong. I, like, totally don't need to understand physics to know that. All those scientists are, like, totally wasting their time and need to just except Jesus and stop learning about anything else*.
*Unless it helps support the theory of God, then by all means, read and learn, but by all means, only read the parts that support God. Do no, I repeat, do not read the other stuff.
DaveInEscondido - 16 years ago
We don't get to believe or disbelieve in the Big Bang Theory. Or any other theory. Theories are proposed, and their consequences are tested. If the predicted consequences fail to occur, the theory is wrong. If the predicted consequences do occur, the theory is supported but never proved. Nowhere does the idea of belief come into the process.
Now, as a matter of record, the Big Bang theory has generated a lot of predictions that would not be expected to occur except as a result of the theory. Examples include the cosmic background radiation, Doppler-shifted light from galaxies with a shift proportional to the distance, hydrogen-to-helium ratios, and ages of stars relative to the age of universe. It has never generated a predicted consequence that has failed to materialize. That is as good as empirical knowledge gets.
If anyone claims the Big Bang theory to be false, ask them which testable consequence has failed to occur. Do not be satisfied with philosophical statements like "something can't come from nothing"; they are mere assertions and might be false. Demand empirical evidence. And once again: belief has nothing to do with it.
Turtles - 16 years ago
It's turtles! Turtles all the way down!
Jack Miller - 16 years ago
Science and religion walking hand in hand isn't a concept Jeff, it's a fantasy for people too scared to question the indoctrination of their parents' religion. Science happily admits the limits of its understanding, and looks forward to extending knowledge as the boundaries of the proveable move ever outward. Religion starts and finishes with the telling of stories: firstly the stories of ignorant bronze-age cultures for whom everything is a mystery and death a terror, and secondly and more sadly, the contortions of modern people too scared to discard their religious safety blankets in the face of overwhelming evidence contradicting what those desert-dwellers believed. I don't blame Yahweh's Israelites, they didn't have the capacity to know better. But your willful ignorance is less forgivable. Let go of your safety blanket like I did—there's none so blind as those who will not see.
bobxxxx - 16 years ago
Most likely the people who voted against the Big Bang are uneducated god-soaked hicks who would rather believe in their Sky Daddy's abracadabra magic than accept the discoveries of modern science. These brain-dead Christians think their ignorance is equal to the knowledge of the entire scientific community. America's Morons for Jebus have made our country the laughing-stock of the world.
Seth - 16 years ago
"Science and religious beliefs, walking hand in hand...what a concept."
But Jeff, they never HAVE walked hand-in-hand. Each and every time that science has provided a genuinely new glimpse at how the universe works - whether its the age of the earth, the age of the stars, evolution or the Big Bang - religion gets its knickers in a twist. The whole "ID" movement is merely one of many proofs of this. Science is always checking up on itself, always critically examining both evidence and conclusions derived from evidence. Scientists' reputations are made by discovering that what was once unknown is knowable. Religion is all about preserving truths in spite of evidence to the contrary, and ostracizing anyone who fails to "keep the faith." Science is OK with uncertainty and a shifting landscape of competing ideas and evidence. Religion _hates_ uncertainty and is willing to kill anyone who offers a contrary point of view.
Jeff - 16 years ago
Why is it that the big bang theory and creationism have to be mutually exclusive? I believe that both tell the same story, each with it's own point of view. Creationism does not say HOW God created the heavens and the Earth, only that he did it. It does not say how long a day is to God. Big bang does not say that God didn't put it all in to motion, only how it might have worked. Science and religious beliefs, walking hand in hand...what a concept.
James Lehan - 16 years ago
(rolls eyes at people that deny science but, believe in old jewish fairy tales and myth.) Flat Earthers!
Seth - 16 years ago
Objective evidence for the Big Bang is abundant and growing. The same cannot be said of "God." It's embarrassing enough that the U.S. Superconducting Supercollider was cancelled by Congress (to save an amount of money that's equivalent to what's spent on the war in Iraq EVERY MONTH) so that now the best high-energy physicists in the world no longer come to the U.S. to conduct their research. What's really galling - and I'm talking salt on the wound here - is that there are so many Americans who are so clueless about how science works, and also are, as evidenced by some of the comments here, are actually _proud_ of their willful ignorance and irrationality.
Um. Is 'believe' the word you're looking for here, Makers of the Poll. It's not a matter of 'belief'. 'God' is a matter of belief. The Big Bang is a scientific hypothesis, supported by observation and mathematically verifiable physics.
Do you 'believe' in powered flight? It's the same kind of question.
Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.
Not that I believe in any god, the phrase just shows how difficult it is to deal with stupidity. And before we came to vote after reading some GOOD stuff we swayed the answer away from the idiotic "NO".
A good friend of mine used to say that 70% of people are stupid. The answers given by Britanny, Teresa and others seem to confirm his hypothesis (and turn it into a theory!)
George P - 16 years ago
But, does it make a "bang" when there's no one to hear it?
Seriously, why do god-believers have a problem with the "big bang"? Wasn't how God came into existence? Spontaneously?...
Avery - 16 years ago
I voted yes, because I think I know what your getting at...but normally I would say 'No, I don't believe it [or the theory of evolution, or the theory of gravity, etc]...it's not a belief system....I understand the big bang.'
Matthew Platte - 16 years ago
Belief - it's more a provisional thing, really. I'll "believe" in the Big Bang but I fully expect the theory to change as we learn more.
DT - 16 years ago
Paul, I don't imagine the "other" considerations would be the Ekpyrotic model or the Variable Speed of Light models, which are being investigated by scientists. Those would probably be more like the "other hypotheses," mentioned by Stefan. And to differ with Ross, such considerations are at the edge of current understanding and therefore speculative. But they are not pseudoscience, in that they will stand or fall according to the evidence. The LHC may in fact provide some information regarding possible other dimensions. Which the Ekp. model says may have bumped together to cause the Big Bang. Etc. I say keep investigating! God may have done it, but if she did, it was about 13.7 billion years ago.
Adam - 16 years ago
"Will you turn your back on God's revelation in nature to save your interpretation of His revelation in scripture?"
Damn that God for cursing us with these powerful brains, for which we are compelled to probe and know the universe. Oh, the depravity!
Adam - 16 years ago
"The Big Bang is pure speculative pseudoscience."
Your TV is pure speculative pseudoscience. Can you even see an electron, let alone influence one with magnetic fields in a scanning sequence to light up phosphorescent chemicals? Have you ever touched an electron? They don't exist! It's just a liberal plot to bring people away from God and the ghost of Jerry Falwell.
"Many scientists have signed a peition(sic) that says so.:
Many "scientists" that all have mail-order degrees from Liberty University, no doubt. Hell, I could walk into one of those places, take an exam, and ace it because I just wrote "God did it" for each answer.
Owlmirror - 16 years ago
Response to the cosmology statement by an actual astrophysicist:
Funny how not believing in the Big Bang theory seems to go hand-in-hand with believing lots of crazy things for which there IS no evidence.
Awesome!
john - 16 years ago
** News Alert **
There is no God.
Now back to Bob with the weather...
echidna - 16 years ago
Oh Ross, you wouldn't know pseudoscience, or a fraud, if it bit you on the nose.
Quoting from theologyweb: "Will you turn your back on God's revelation in nature to save your interpretation of His revelation in scripture?"
Bob - 16 years ago
Big Bang THEORY... hmmm why is it a theory??
THEORY of gravity...hmmm why is it a theory??
Magic pads that can detoxify my body by wearing them on my feet at night- now thats a fact!
What is the other side of this poorly-worded poll's one-sided question? As opposed to the Big Bang, do all of you who voted "No" seriously think that the earth and the universe were created in 4004 BC? Do any of you who actually think this have a clue how ignorant (and I really do mean this in the nice / technical way) that belief is?
The Big Bang is pure speculative pseudoscience. Many scientists have signed a peition that says so. See www.cosmologystatement.org
Andy James - 16 years ago
The Big Bang Model does not describe something springing from nothing, it just describes what is observable though a telescope with your own eyeballs. Science will probably someday find a way to see what happened before the Big Bang event, it such an event does not include a singularity.
God is what claims to pop out of nothing, which in turn conjures a universe from nothing. Now thats ridiculous, and takes the same leap of faith it would take to believe a car is is a magical machine that runs on wishes and requires no gas.
:(
Science is hard, so I'm going to believe an invisible man with magic powers did it!
Stefan - 16 years ago
The question is a little deceptive since, as I understand it, the Big Bang is really just a very simplified version of how scientists actually see the likely ways the universe was created. String theory and other hypotheses shed more light on this. So, in a nutshell, the question is kind of irrelevant. I still voted "yes," however, because I support science's efforts to explain the universe.
Peter Backus - 16 years ago
I hope that the people who don't "believe" in the Big Bang actually read some of the thoughtful comments and suggestions. I second the suggestion of Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything." For people who want to learn more about Astronomy, the Teaching Company has an excellent course on DVDs by Alex Filippenko. It costs close to $200 but a good intro textbook is more than $100. For a 15 minute intro to the Big Bang and the Large Hadron Collider, check out this video: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/brian_cox_on_cern_s_supercollider.html
I find the very notion of "God" to be intellectually dishonest.
"Who created the stuff that made the big bang in the first place, if it did in fact happen?"
So you assume God did it then? Fine, who created God? If God can exist with an infinite regression, why can't we have an endless cycle of Big Bangs and Big Crunches? (Look up the Big Bounce hypothesis.)
The whole "uncaused cause" argument is a fallacy. Here's why:
In Newtonian Physics (the physics that govern how far a baseball flies and the basic concept of gravity), every action must first have a cause. In the microcosm of Newtonian Physics, the whole "uncaused cause" argument has enough merit to deserve further examination.
Then we have Quantum Physics; which is a whole different ball game. In Quantum Physics, there is actually a law of Uncertainty (Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle). Tiny subatomic particles like electrons and photons act like both a particle (think cannonballs) and wave (think pond ripples).
According to Quantum Physics, really tiny particles are continually popping into existence, only to annihilate each other.
Still with me?
There's also a hypothesis that is receiving a lot of scientific criticism (and support) called "Cosmic inflation." As a consequence of the properties of Quantum Physics, a system of "zero energy"-- equal parts positive energy (mass) and negative energy (gravity)-- could have arisen from vacuum.
We call this the Big Bang. We've proven that the Big Bang has happened. It's a fact, folks. What we have yet to prove is why/how it happened, or why there was only one. That's why the LHC exists, and that's what scientists are working to understand.
Just saying, "No you're a fool because God did everything," is intellectually lazy.
tonyJ - 16 years ago
I voted 'yes' I believe, although I'm not in the habit of responding to stupid questions, even a cursory investigation into what physicists have actually discovered about reality should be enough to enable those capable of logical thought to throw the bronze age world view down the toilet. Reality is far stranger than the vast majority of human beings are capable of understanding. If you want to hide from the world, from reality, from the universe...go to church and have your heart and mind filled with soporific sewage. Alternately, stand up and face the universe that generated you with courage and honesty.
echidna - 16 years ago
Whether you "believe" in the big bang theory or not, science deals with observable evidence.
The problem some people have is when they try to count holy writings as observable evidence. Sorry, but that's not reality, not science, and not Truth.
Imroy - 16 years ago
It's not a question of "belief". The big bang is a scientific theory and like all theories it explains some aspect of the physical world. That doesn't mean it's perfect or even "correct" (whatever that might mean). But at the moment it does a good job of explaining things we've found and allowing us to make predictions about other things we might find in the future. That is a fact and no amount of personal belief or disbelief will make one iota of difference.
This so-called "gravity" theory is pure fantasy. Why can't everybody just accept the obvious fact? God simultaneously influences all unsupported objects to accelerate toward the ground at 9.8m/sec^2. Duh!
Elitist Mike - 16 years ago
the only thing that has been proven about religion and "god" is that it's fiction, if you don't believe in science then give up your computers/house/car/phone/television... hey you know what.. you might as well just off yourselves, you'll get to "god" faster you polytheistic christian idiots. (Yeah do some bible study your a polytheistic religion you have 4 gods and a lot of demi-gods. Even you Fundi psycho's you a sect or christian cult so your in the same boat.) Sorry if that offends. Truth Hurts.
I know concepts like the big bang are difficult for some people to get their heads around. And not all of us are physicists. But don't write-off the discoveries of hundreds of years and many brilliant minds without making some effort to understand what has been discovered (and how it was discovered). Bill Bryson's friendly book "A Short History of Nearly Everything" is a brilliant introduction for non-scientists to what is known so far. It's also a wake-up call. We owe almost everything good about the modern world to science--longer life, better health, greater comfort etc. The fewer of us who understand this, the faster we're going to go backwards into the dark ages.
Mina - 16 years ago
Science, it works b*tches!
http://xkcd.com/54/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COBE
David Marjanović - 16 years ago
Radioactive decay happens without a cause. Unstable nuclei decay just because they can; there is no way to predict when any particular nucleus will decay, and no way to influence it.
Adam - 16 years ago
Aww man, the stupid thing got rid off all my formatting above. Well, it'll be a b!tch to read now.
Adam - 16 years ago
"The bottom line is God created the earth."
Maybe. Maybe not. It's unimportant, really. The question on the minds of scientists is how, not why or by whom.
"Scientist have been trying to "prove" the big bang theory for years with no success."
False. Do some reading. Preferably from sources other than Conservapedia or WorldNetDaily.
"Just accept the fact that there is a greater being, GOD, that created us and everything around us."
"Don't ask questions, just listen to me and go no further." If we all shared that attitude, we'd still be living in caves.
"Who created the stuff that made the big bang in the first place, if it did in fact happen? Exactly."
Exactly... what? So we don't know yet. We'll figure it out someday. As the saying goes, "the larger the island of knowledge, the greater the coast of mystery." And why is "who" even a question? That's like saying "how is my TV?" or "who is the colour orange".
"Remeber that it used to be heresy to believe that the world went around the sun but science prevailed and now that has been taken out of the Christian faith."
You'd be surprised at the people who still think the Earth is the centre of the universe. Oh, the arrogance.
"All you creationists have no proof for a deity. Stop ruining America with your stupidity."
Worst case scenario, America will suffer a terrible brain-drain as all intelligent people flee the smoking fields of burning stupid left behind. But all the people who care about something like that will just move to Europe or Canada or something (though we still have our nutters here up north).
"Although I find that whole idea of a "big bang" happening spontaneously very hard to believe."
What do you mean spontaneously? As in without cause by a sentient being? Equally exotic things happen on Earth and around the universe all the time. To think the universe is incapable of working without the guidance of conscience is quite arrogant.
/pontification
Copernicus - 16 years ago
The level of logical introspection shown here by the theistic community is appalling. Okay, you say God created the universe. Right, so who created God? Super-God perhaps.
Now come the complaints "waaaa, but God has always existed!!!" scream the Christians. Really? So, how is it different to posit that God has always existed, or that the universe has always existed. To me, it seems you are just changing words around.
Now, onto specific comments.
Brittany. Why do you disagree with the Big Bang Theory? What evidence do you have? What inconsistencies are there in the model? How long have you studied astronomy? Wait, what's that? You base your argument on an internally inconsistent text written by bronze age goatherds? Why, how quaint.
Josh. I find quantum physics and string theory hard to believe - yet quantum physics is amazingly accurate in its predictions. I find it hard to understand that the universe is 27 billion light years across, but it is. I find many true things hard to believe. I find it even harder to believe that there is a big man in the sky with a white beard, who can listen to 6 billion people whispering to him at the same time. Actually, scratch that last one. I find it impossible to believe.
Gary. Actually, that was the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Teresa. There are these wonderful things called "books". You should try reading one some time - they're wonderful, you'd love them. As for "proving" the Big Bang, well, it's a scientific theory (and no, that doesn't mean the same as the word theory as misused in common parlance - rather it means "a systematic explanation of a large body of facts"), up there with gravity. Gravity is "just" a theory. Perhaps you should read up on the Cosmic Background Radiation.
Aaron Grow - 16 years ago
Believers have been trying to prove gawd's existance for even longer with less success. I'll stick with science, thank you. Science gave you the electronics that allow you to sit at your product of science (computer) to deride science. What has gawd done for me? Nada. What has science done for me? I don't have enough characters available to give a complete list, 4000 wouldn't cover it.
David Marjanović - 16 years ago
(Even paragraph breaks are automatically removed. I don't get it. Why should anyone do that?)
David Marjanović - 16 years ago
Teresa and Brittany, you don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you admit that to yourselves?
That said, _"believe" isn't the right term_. Scientists don't believe in anything, they rank possibilities according to their probabilities. Science cannot prove (surprise for Teresa!), only disprove. It just so happens that all alternatives to the Big Bang theory that have been proposed so far have been disproven -- they contradict some observations.
"God said BANG and it happen just as He wanted it to be."
That's possible, but not a necessary assumption, as quantum physics shows.
(Oh man. Any HTML is a "potentially dangerous request"? Pathetic. If comments have to be in plain text, tell me up front!)
Alex - 16 years ago
The bottom line is that there is no such thing as your imaginary superfriend. The bottom line is, it is a sad commentary on this country that so many people cling so pathetically to ancient superstition and mythology and confuse it with fact. I realize this is because it is much easier to be told what to think, as opposed to actually THINKING something through (and accepting the reality of not being able to know the answers to some questions and/or putting forth a sustained collective cognitive effort to *gasp* learn the answers via scientific methodologies rather than swallowing a pretend fantasy story created by primitive people a thousand years ago as literal fact-that is just pathetic and sad, really.) You can brush that Pretty Pony's Magical Mane all you want, children, but it won't make it real.
Peter - 16 years ago
I'm not saying you can't have your beliefs. The issue comes up when you selectively deny the findings of science while remaining ignorant of those findings. If you wish to deny established theories like the Big Bang or Evolution through natural selection, you must first understand them. Then, if you still wish to deny them, you are making a rational decision instead of blindly following a dogma written by people thousands of years ago who didn't understand the way their world worked.
It's also interesting that we don't hear people denying other scientific theories such as the Germ Theory of Disease (disease is caused by germs) or the Theory of Gravitation. No one seems to have a problem with Evolution and mutation when discussing viruses like the bird flu mutating.
A position based upon ignorance is no foundation for anything.
The Big Bang is very well established. Do any of you really believe that you know more about astronomy and science than the people who run the Hubble Space Telescope and numerous other telescopes, understand the physics involved, and analyze their data? You are probably the same persons who think that the three Ls -- Libertarians, Limbaugh, and LaRouche -- know more about science than working scientists who have studied their subjects for twenty or forty years.
The discovery of the expanding universe was one of the big 20th-century discoveries. The expanding universe has been observed and studied for three quarters of a century now. In the 1960s, they discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation, often termed the echo of the Big Bang.
Science is extremely accurate. The last thing we need is mass scientific illiteracy and incompetence.
Scott - 16 years ago
The big bang theory does NOT say something came from nothing. It wasn't something IN space/time that exploded rather an expansion of space/time itself. If you disagree with it know that you disagree with MOUNTAINS of evidence and some of the worlds brightest minds. For more about Primacy of Existence i suggest reading http://bahnsenburner.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html
All you creationists have no proof for a deity. Stop ruining America with your stupidity.
There is well-supported evidence with fairly small error bars that the Big Bang happened 10.7 billion years ago and there is evidence to support the fact that the Earth is 4.6 billion years old and that life evolved.
Take your stupidity to Saudi Arabia; they'll welcome you there.
onein6billion - 16 years ago
It's hard to believe that so many people are so ignorant about the science of astronomy.
Teresa - 16 years ago
The bottom line is God created the earth. Scientist have been trying to "prove" the big bang theory for years with no success. Just accept the fact that there is a greater being, GOD, that created us and everything around us.
Chris Harris - 16 years ago
I just don't see how people can not believe science. Remeber that it used to be heresy to believe that the world went around the sun but science prevailed and now that has been taken out of the Christian faith. If I made a religion today that said that gravity was a myth, you wouldn't believe it because you don't believe in this little religion and you are unbiased, so you go with what has been proven as science as I'm doing.
Gary 8urch - 16 years ago
I believe in the Big Bang Theory. God said BANG and it happen just as He wanted it to be.
Josh - 16 years ago
Who created the stuff that made the big bang in the first place, if it did in fact happen? Exactly. Although I find that whole idea of a "big bang" happening spontaneously very hard to believe.
so basically everyone on here that says that they believe in the big bang theory is pretty much saying that the bible is a lie!?
WELL YOU PEOPLE NEED TO GET A LIFE BECAUSE GOD IS REAL!!! AND APPARENTLY SOME OF YOU NEED TO FIND HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD LOVES AND CARES FOR YOU THERE'S PROOF ALL IN THE BIBLE AND GOD WANTS YOU KNOW THAT HE CREATED THE EARTH AND THAT HE WROTE THE BIBLE HE SPOKE TO THE PROPHETS AND TOLD THEM WHAT TO WRITE! SO THERE FORE THE
BIG BANG' THEORY IS A COMPLETE LIE!
If god made us from his image why arnt we all little fat blokes with beards? that because he didn't! If he did then that would compleatly rule out the exsistanse of homo erectus (sorry bad spelling) and plenty of scientific experiments that have tons of proof to back them up would be down the drain all because a few people believe that some guy on a cloud made the world and all because they read it in a book that could have been written by anyone at all so your saying i should believe that hogwarts and harry potter a real because i read it somewhere well i dont and if your argument is that science dosn't have any evidance well nither do the blelievers =)
Hey Marta as for evolution, I do not believe we crawled out of the sea nor do I believe we came from fish or monkey. I believe God created man in His on image. As for how God created Heaven and Earth, you may have a point. Only God knows how He did it. But I do know God did it! The biggest problem is that man thinks he know more that God. And then starts to try and make the world think man knows more than God. That's what gets people in trouble.
I believe in God and I think He could do anything he wanted to rearrange Himself wherever he wanted. I am very simplistic about science but I also know that as time goes on, our theories can change dramatically as important fundamental "rules" are uncovered...that weren't before. Case in point, The world is flat.
One rule I remember from the 8th grade, which I don't believe has changed, is that: Matter and Energy are never created or destroyed, they simply transmute (right word?) from one form to the other.
My belief in the Big Bang does not refute the Bible. Heck, it doesn't say how he created the earth, just that he did. What if he used the Big Bang method? That method also made the framework of where the world is in the universe and how it's warmed and lighted and ...why am I going on. I simply believe.
Now let's talk about evolution....
:)
Well HLC I've been down both roads myself. Yes I grow up in a religious family. A very close family. I had the best Dad and Mom eneyone could have. I know I broke their hearts some times but the still cared for me. I've had the alcohol, the great sex, party all the time and did what I wanted to do. So I know all about that. You choose you on faith. John just to let you know God brought me back from the edge of death. I know what I saw and I know what I felt. So I know why I choose what I beleive. Sorry if I insulted any of you but I know the reason I beleive in God. I thought I was having fun but when it came time for my life to end I saw the truth. If it's not for you then so be it. But I know where I'll be after death.
HCL, I agree. On a side note, do you also notice how the woman/man of peoples dreams always happen to live in the same city they grew up in? Wow, such luck, eh?
You are right, Thomas, we can all choose our own paths...
But, "So think before you choose because we each answer for what we each do !!!" , makes a call to think. You bookend some of our thought provoking posts with, "If your right then it's my lose, no sweat off you nose."..... Well, this doesn't seem like a well thought out response that makes us understand why you made the choices you chose. So, I really believe you have 'chosen' what you have becouse you either don't care either way, or you are just similarly minded, and went that way be default.
Thomas, so you believe people shouldn't wear mixed textiles, that eating shellfish is evil, and that we should stone disrespectful children to death? Have you even read the whole bible? You might try doing that before you believe "no more, no less".
Let me ask you something... is your family religious too? I'm guessing they're all the same christian denomination too. Don't you think that's a tiny little bit suspicious? Muslims, jews, "pagans", and many others all say the EXACT same things you do about feeling the power of their god and whatnot. Are you really so sickeningly arrogant as to dismiss all those millions and millions of people?
Hey guys I have no problem with you fellas doing your thing. If your right then it's my lose, no sweat off you nose. But if I'm right then I won't have to pay the price for John or Pete or Daniel or PGrain or Anyone else who want to have a good time in this life. Like I said I beleive in the Holy Bible!
Well Daniel you may be right. But the God I beleive in is a good God not like the God's of others Ive seen. I've seen and felt His power. And through Hope and Faith we live a good and righteous life. Bottom line is we chose though faith. When my death come then I've got what I've got. I believe God created the earth and I just can't believe we crawled out of the sea or came from a monkey! I believe the Holy Bible and that's it! No more, no less!
"If Ichoose to beleive in God and I die and I'm wrong what have I lost? "
Well, Thomas, how about free choices about alcohol or other minor drugs ,a sex life your friends are envious of, certain foods depending on your religion, speaking your mind if you disagree without being ostracized, and the whole sex thing is worth mentioning again (Use your imagination, that is if you think your god will allow that.).
And if it turns out you don't want these things, then maybe your 'choice' of believing in god is really just a default action since your views on life happen to be generally the same.
If god had wanted us to believe in him...
...He would have existed!
@Thomas
What if you choose the wrong god?
Odin may end up pissed off at you.
If you're trying to "play the odds" by picking one god to believe in, be aware that people have believed in thousands of different gods who may or may not be the right one.
http://wiki.ironchariots.org/index.php?title=Pascal%27s_Wager
People can beleive what ever the want. If I choose to beleive in God and I die and I'm wrong what have I lost? But if the world does not beleive in God and I'm right then the 97% to 98% of the people here are in BIG TROUBLE !!! So think before you choose because we each answer for what we each do !!!
It's pretty hard to believe there's still some people who don't believe this is how it is. The big bag is very easily accessible to anyone with a high school education so there's really no excuse for ignorance.
Though I guess there are some groups of people who think the Earth is still flat.
People can beleive what ever the want. If Ichoose to beleive in God and I die and I'm wrong what have I lost? But if the world does not beleive in God and I'm right then the 97% to 98% of the people here are in BIG TROUBLE !!! So think before you choose because we each answer for what we each do !!!
What's to not believe? The problem with this question is that there are two possible "no" answers that are conflated: "I haven't thought about the matter and don't have any opinion on the early history of the universe", and "I have an alternate theory of the early history of the universe."
Frankly, an awful lot of people fall into the first category, and pollsters should know that not supporting Obama is not the same as supporting McCain or vice-versa.
Among people who've actually investigated the matter, the second category is pretty darn small. There's just too much evidence that the universe originated in a hot, dense state. (How it got to that state is still somewhat mysterious, but the fact that we don't know all of history doesn't mean that the history we do know is fatally flawed. Does our uncertainty regarding the founding of the city of Rome cast doubt on the historicity of the roman empire?)
"I'm constantly amazed by people who use computers and the internet to deny the reality of science, especially physics."
I've thought the same things. Go to the churches nowadays, they all have full speaker systems, digital projectors, buildings that are feats of engineering... Al while saying, "Science doesn't konw anything.", and "Do not build up treasures on Earth."
I belive the big bang is true. Universal expansion is quite a good proof for me. If the universe is expanding, then it was smaller yesterday than it is today. Smaller last week. Smaller last year..... A few billion years ago? Maybe it is the size of a singularity.
It's unbelievable that people find the argument, "well who created all the stuff out of which the big bang happened?" a compelling reason to invoke a creator. I mean, did you ever think of the question right back at you, "Who created all the stuff that god is made out of?" Of course you haven't because you just go on faith. Sad, sad times in America when so many people are so proudly ignorant.
"God did it" is not an explanation, it's a failure to think, and an unwillingness to admit that you don't know. It is a lapse of logic which in turn leads to even worse lapses such as a detailed description of some fictional sky fairy in a 'holy' book.
The Big Bang is the current best explanation we have for the observable universe and the phenomena we see there. Maybe the LHC will invalidate some of the assumptions we have about that, and we'll have to start over. Which might actually be more interesting than finding the Higgs. But you won't hear scientists screaming that the evidence must be ignored, which is a major difference between scientists and creationists.
I don't think the poll is looking for differences in scientific theories regarding the origin of the universe rather, how many people think an invisible friend created the universe. Who do you believe? The scientists who spend decades studying this stuff or some guy writhing on the ground, speaking in tongues and preaching from a daisy-chain translation of a bronze age book?
"a second tier sub-god from a late bronze age myth" -- well, part of it (Yahwe) is. The other part (El Elyon) is the first-tier over-god from the same myth. Only later did people stop thinking that Yahwe was just responsible for their own tribe (like Khemosh for the Moabites) and started forgetting the difference.
To all creationists out there: The big bang happened, it's real. Grow up, read a book, and get over it.
I'm constantly amazed by people who use computers and the internet to deny the reality of science, especially physics.
"Out of nothing comes nothing, so the BB couldn't have happened. No gap there, it's just impossible to do."
Congratulations, you have just disproven god. But your statement comes from complete ignorance to the subject, which is physics, not logic games. Y'see, before the Big Bang (if such a "time" can be said to exist) there was EVEN LESS than nothing. There was NO UNIVERSE out there (as far as we know), which means that "nothing" is actually a state that can't exist yet. There is a lack of universe at this point. But from the big bang spawned the universe, and made states like "something" and "nothing" possible. Sound crazy? Read a book instead of saying stupid things, Mike.
Wonderful. People are willing to believe in a big daddy in the sky (a second tier sub-god from a late bronze age myth) for which there is no evidence, yet they don’t believe in science that demonstrates that the part of THE UNIVERSE THAT WE CAN SEE originated with the BB. Yes folks, the universe was not created from nothing and your stupid god is a myth.
"Out of nothing comes nothing, so the BB couldn't have happened." What part of "the Big Bang does not address what came before itself" do you not understand. Read something other that Zondervan and the PIG books. The selective thinking displayed by creationists is really alarming.
Well, the fact that we have measured the radiation left over after the big-bang, meaning scientists have actually seen the afterglow of it, I "believe" in the big-bang theory. I have a tendency to believe in reality.
Skepticism is fine, I was a Big Bang skeptic for years, adhering to the alternative "Steady State" theory of Hoyle. After two decades the Big Bang theory became difficult to deny, however.
But I think there's some skepticism here based on stupidity and lack of education. That isn't acceptable. It may be the reason why the Large Hadron Collider is in Europe, where we don't have quite so much money to play with but we do take science seriously. That's a shame, really, because American scientists did a lot of the science that led to the acceptance of the Big Bang theory. But if enough Americans are stupid enough to believe a poorly educated preacher's interpretation of the bible in preference to the evidence painstakingly built up and interpreted by scientists, maybe it's time the Europeans took over the mantle of leaders in science.
We don't have European ignoramuses putting fairy stories before science.
I agree that the word "believe" in the question is unfortunate; it should use "accept" (or something akin). ----- Michael said, "Out of nothing comes nothing, so the BB couldn't have happened. No gap there, it's just impossible to do. ..." ----- Really? We exist; we are here; so... how? "Magic man done it"? Then, who made him? No one? ... Oh yes, that sounds SOOO much more "possible". *roll eyes* How exactly do you explain the vast collection of facts in support of the Big Bang, and the total lack of facts in support of "magic man"? (And, why are you against it, anyway? The theory doesn't really address HOW/WHY it happened, only THAT it happened.)
If you "don't believe" in the Big Bang, then do some research find out what it is all about then make your decision. If you don't understand what the research or the scientists are saying don't assume they are wrong and therefore not believe. Subjects like these, by their nature, are very difficult for the layman to understand, so like it or not you may have to trust the scientists. Surely that makes more sense than other supernatural explanations which can never, ever be proved by anyone at all.
Dear Americans,
Please continue to disbelieve The Big Bang. You've been leading the free world for long enough, it's time let the rest of the world take over...
Out of nothing comes nothing, so the BB couldn't have happened. No gap there, it's just impossible to do. I noticed the survey was posted in a popular atheist blog which then altered the survey.
"Remeber that it used to be heresy to believe that the world went around the sun"
Nobody posting here lived during that time period, the earth was calculated using a math formula which didn't come from any religion. But a religion (not all) did accept it as valid. I can't believe someone still tries to use that argument...lol
Your question is badly phrased. You can believe in gods and fairies, but you weigh the evidence for scientific theories.
What caused the BB?
The BB theory says nothing about what actually caused the BB. It only says that a BB was caused, and from that our universe came to be.
So believing in BB is not believing in any particular reason that caused the BB, merely that the BB actually once happened.
So shat caused the BB? Simple answer is, we don't know. Some might see that as an opening to insert their favourite creater. But lack of knowledge neither strengthens or weakens any particular explanation. Lack of knowledge is not proof of anything other than the fact that we are not omniscient.
Some will say a supreme being has to be the first cause (oversimplified explanaition). But think about this; if you can postulate an always existing supreme being, a sentient cause of BB, you can just as well postulate an always existing non-sentient cause for BB.
So I'll repeat my point: Lack of knowledge never proves or disprove any theory or explanation. Never.
Actually is irrelevant if people believe or not in a scientific theory.
What matters is if there are facts to suport it and if the theory have been tested.
In this case, the theory was contructed on facts, and it has been tested. The questions now is not to test it, but to get the finner details.
Unless... new facts contradict it. It is not a matter of belief of faith, but a matter of getting facts.
If the universe could not have possibly spring out of nothing, how did your God spring out of nothing?
If your God could spring out of nothing, so could the universe.
If the creator did not need a creator, neither did life.
There is no evidence at all for the existence of God (a book written by people long time ago who believed that lightning and thunder are a sign of God's wrath does not constitute evidence!), but an abundance of empirical evidence for the Big Bang. It's astounding how many people are completely ignorant about modern physics in particular and how science works in general.
And we all know the church is never wrong about things, like, you know, the earth being the center of the universe with everything else revolving around it. *eyeroll*
"Who created the stuff that made the big bang?" The same guy who made God, basically.
We have considerable evidence for the Big Bang taking place, compared to zero evidence for the existence of God.
Until religion can provide a better explanation for how the universe came into being ("God did it." isn't an explanation) I think I'll stick with this.
The only thing funnier than than the stupidity of the premise of this poll is the idiocy displayed by so many of the commenters, who know nothing about nothing (not to mention modern physics and cosmology) and are not embarrassed to display their ignorance in public.
OK so i havent read all of the discussion going on here as i feel i probably have read the same backwards logic a trillion times. I dont feel like scrolling through 50 Pratts so; i'll name three things you can google and inform yourself about. simple!
WMAP
Cosmic background radiation
Hubbles constant
OK, so, like I am still in high school and work at TCBY, but I, like, totally know that the Big Bang theory is wrong. I, like, totally don't need to understand physics to know that. All those scientists are, like, totally wasting their time and need to just except Jesus and stop learning about anything else*.
*Unless it helps support the theory of God, then by all means, read and learn, but by all means, only read the parts that support God. Do no, I repeat, do not read the other stuff.
We don't get to believe or disbelieve in the Big Bang Theory. Or any other theory. Theories are proposed, and their consequences are tested. If the predicted consequences fail to occur, the theory is wrong. If the predicted consequences do occur, the theory is supported but never proved. Nowhere does the idea of belief come into the process.
Now, as a matter of record, the Big Bang theory has generated a lot of predictions that would not be expected to occur except as a result of the theory. Examples include the cosmic background radiation, Doppler-shifted light from galaxies with a shift proportional to the distance, hydrogen-to-helium ratios, and ages of stars relative to the age of universe. It has never generated a predicted consequence that has failed to materialize. That is as good as empirical knowledge gets.
If anyone claims the Big Bang theory to be false, ask them which testable consequence has failed to occur. Do not be satisfied with philosophical statements like "something can't come from nothing"; they are mere assertions and might be false. Demand empirical evidence. And once again: belief has nothing to do with it.
It's turtles! Turtles all the way down!
Science and religion walking hand in hand isn't a concept Jeff, it's a fantasy for people too scared to question the indoctrination of their parents' religion. Science happily admits the limits of its understanding, and looks forward to extending knowledge as the boundaries of the proveable move ever outward. Religion starts and finishes with the telling of stories: firstly the stories of ignorant bronze-age cultures for whom everything is a mystery and death a terror, and secondly and more sadly, the contortions of modern people too scared to discard their religious safety blankets in the face of overwhelming evidence contradicting what those desert-dwellers believed. I don't blame Yahweh's Israelites, they didn't have the capacity to know better. But your willful ignorance is less forgivable. Let go of your safety blanket like I did—there's none so blind as those who will not see.
Most likely the people who voted against the Big Bang are uneducated god-soaked hicks who would rather believe in their Sky Daddy's abracadabra magic than accept the discoveries of modern science. These brain-dead Christians think their ignorance is equal to the knowledge of the entire scientific community. America's Morons for Jebus have made our country the laughing-stock of the world.
"Science and religious beliefs, walking hand in hand...what a concept."
But Jeff, they never HAVE walked hand-in-hand. Each and every time that science has provided a genuinely new glimpse at how the universe works - whether its the age of the earth, the age of the stars, evolution or the Big Bang - religion gets its knickers in a twist. The whole "ID" movement is merely one of many proofs of this. Science is always checking up on itself, always critically examining both evidence and conclusions derived from evidence. Scientists' reputations are made by discovering that what was once unknown is knowable. Religion is all about preserving truths in spite of evidence to the contrary, and ostracizing anyone who fails to "keep the faith." Science is OK with uncertainty and a shifting landscape of competing ideas and evidence. Religion _hates_ uncertainty and is willing to kill anyone who offers a contrary point of view.
Why is it that the big bang theory and creationism have to be mutually exclusive? I believe that both tell the same story, each with it's own point of view. Creationism does not say HOW God created the heavens and the Earth, only that he did it. It does not say how long a day is to God. Big bang does not say that God didn't put it all in to motion, only how it might have worked. Science and religious beliefs, walking hand in hand...what a concept.
(rolls eyes at people that deny science but, believe in old jewish fairy tales and myth.) Flat Earthers!
Objective evidence for the Big Bang is abundant and growing. The same cannot be said of "God." It's embarrassing enough that the U.S. Superconducting Supercollider was cancelled by Congress (to save an amount of money that's equivalent to what's spent on the war in Iraq EVERY MONTH) so that now the best high-energy physicists in the world no longer come to the U.S. to conduct their research. What's really galling - and I'm talking salt on the wound here - is that there are so many Americans who are so clueless about how science works, and also are, as evidenced by some of the comments here, are actually _proud_ of their willful ignorance and irrationality.
Um. Is 'believe' the word you're looking for here, Makers of the Poll. It's not a matter of 'belief'. 'God' is a matter of belief. The Big Bang is a scientific hypothesis, supported by observation and mathematically verifiable physics.
Do you 'believe' in powered flight? It's the same kind of question.
Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.
Not that I believe in any god, the phrase just shows how difficult it is to deal with stupidity. And before we came to vote after reading some GOOD stuff we swayed the answer away from the idiotic "NO".
A good friend of mine used to say that 70% of people are stupid. The answers given by Britanny, Teresa and others seem to confirm his hypothesis (and turn it into a theory!)
But, does it make a "bang" when there's no one to hear it?
Seriously, why do god-believers have a problem with the "big bang"? Wasn't how God came into existence? Spontaneously?...
I voted yes, because I think I know what your getting at...but normally I would say 'No, I don't believe it [or the theory of evolution, or the theory of gravity, etc]...it's not a belief system....I understand the big bang.'
Belief - it's more a provisional thing, really. I'll "believe" in the Big Bang but I fully expect the theory to change as we learn more.
Paul, I don't imagine the "other" considerations would be the Ekpyrotic model or the Variable Speed of Light models, which are being investigated by scientists. Those would probably be more like the "other hypotheses," mentioned by Stefan. And to differ with Ross, such considerations are at the edge of current understanding and therefore speculative. But they are not pseudoscience, in that they will stand or fall according to the evidence. The LHC may in fact provide some information regarding possible other dimensions. Which the Ekp. model says may have bumped together to cause the Big Bang. Etc. I say keep investigating! God may have done it, but if she did, it was about 13.7 billion years ago.
"Will you turn your back on God's revelation in nature to save your interpretation of His revelation in scripture?"
Damn that God for cursing us with these powerful brains, for which we are compelled to probe and know the universe. Oh, the depravity!
"The Big Bang is pure speculative pseudoscience."
Your TV is pure speculative pseudoscience. Can you even see an electron, let alone influence one with magnetic fields in a scanning sequence to light up phosphorescent chemicals? Have you ever touched an electron? They don't exist! It's just a liberal plot to bring people away from God and the ghost of Jerry Falwell.
"Many scientists have signed a peition(sic) that says so.:
Many "scientists" that all have mail-order degrees from Liberty University, no doubt. Hell, I could walk into one of those places, take an exam, and ace it because I just wrote "God did it" for each answer.
Response to the cosmology statement by an actual astrophysicist:
http://preposterousuniverse.blogspot.com/2004/05/doubt-and-dissent-are-not-tolerated.html
Funny how not believing in the Big Bang theory seems to go hand-in-hand with believing lots of crazy things for which there IS no evidence.
Awesome!
** News Alert **
There is no God.
Now back to Bob with the weather...
Oh Ross, you wouldn't know pseudoscience, or a fraud, if it bit you on the nose.
Quoting from theologyweb: "Will you turn your back on God's revelation in nature to save your interpretation of His revelation in scripture?"
Big Bang THEORY... hmmm why is it a theory??
THEORY of gravity...hmmm why is it a theory??
Magic pads that can detoxify my body by wearing them on my feet at night- now thats a fact!
What is the other side of this poorly-worded poll's one-sided question? As opposed to the Big Bang, do all of you who voted "No" seriously think that the earth and the universe were created in 4004 BC? Do any of you who actually think this have a clue how ignorant (and I really do mean this in the nice / technical way) that belief is?
Ross: http://whois.domaintools.com/cosmologystatement.org
The Big Bang is pure speculative pseudoscience. Many scientists have signed a peition that says so. See www.cosmologystatement.org
The Big Bang Model does not describe something springing from nothing, it just describes what is observable though a telescope with your own eyeballs. Science will probably someday find a way to see what happened before the Big Bang event, it such an event does not include a singularity.
God is what claims to pop out of nothing, which in turn conjures a universe from nothing. Now thats ridiculous, and takes the same leap of faith it would take to believe a car is is a magical machine that runs on wishes and requires no gas.
:(
Science is hard, so I'm going to believe an invisible man with magic powers did it!
The question is a little deceptive since, as I understand it, the Big Bang is really just a very simplified version of how scientists actually see the likely ways the universe was created. String theory and other hypotheses shed more light on this. So, in a nutshell, the question is kind of irrelevant. I still voted "yes," however, because I support science's efforts to explain the universe.
I hope that the people who don't "believe" in the Big Bang actually read some of the thoughtful comments and suggestions. I second the suggestion of Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything." For people who want to learn more about Astronomy, the Teaching Company has an excellent course on DVDs by Alex Filippenko. It costs close to $200 but a good intro textbook is more than $100. For a 15 minute intro to the Big Bang and the Large Hadron Collider, check out this video: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/brian_cox_on_cern_s_supercollider.html
I find the very notion of "God" to be intellectually dishonest.
"Who created the stuff that made the big bang in the first place, if it did in fact happen?"
So you assume God did it then? Fine, who created God? If God can exist with an infinite regression, why can't we have an endless cycle of Big Bangs and Big Crunches? (Look up the Big Bounce hypothesis.)
The whole "uncaused cause" argument is a fallacy. Here's why:
In Newtonian Physics (the physics that govern how far a baseball flies and the basic concept of gravity), every action must first have a cause. In the microcosm of Newtonian Physics, the whole "uncaused cause" argument has enough merit to deserve further examination.
Then we have Quantum Physics; which is a whole different ball game. In Quantum Physics, there is actually a law of Uncertainty (Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle). Tiny subatomic particles like electrons and photons act like both a particle (think cannonballs) and wave (think pond ripples).
According to Quantum Physics, really tiny particles are continually popping into existence, only to annihilate each other.
Still with me?
There's also a hypothesis that is receiving a lot of scientific criticism (and support) called "Cosmic inflation." As a consequence of the properties of Quantum Physics, a system of "zero energy"-- equal parts positive energy (mass) and negative energy (gravity)-- could have arisen from vacuum.
We call this the Big Bang. We've proven that the Big Bang has happened. It's a fact, folks. What we have yet to prove is why/how it happened, or why there was only one. That's why the LHC exists, and that's what scientists are working to understand.
Just saying, "No you're a fool because God did everything," is intellectually lazy.
I voted 'yes' I believe, although I'm not in the habit of responding to stupid questions, even a cursory investigation into what physicists have actually discovered about reality should be enough to enable those capable of logical thought to throw the bronze age world view down the toilet. Reality is far stranger than the vast majority of human beings are capable of understanding. If you want to hide from the world, from reality, from the universe...go to church and have your heart and mind filled with soporific sewage. Alternately, stand up and face the universe that generated you with courage and honesty.
Whether you "believe" in the big bang theory or not, science deals with observable evidence.
The problem some people have is when they try to count holy writings as observable evidence. Sorry, but that's not reality, not science, and not Truth.
It's not a question of "belief". The big bang is a scientific theory and like all theories it explains some aspect of the physical world. That doesn't mean it's perfect or even "correct" (whatever that might mean). But at the moment it does a good job of explaining things we've found and allowing us to make predictions about other things we might find in the future. That is a fact and no amount of personal belief or disbelief will make one iota of difference.
This so-called "gravity" theory is pure fantasy. Why can't everybody just accept the obvious fact? God simultaneously influences all unsupported objects to accelerate toward the ground at 9.8m/sec^2. Duh!
the only thing that has been proven about religion and "god" is that it's fiction, if you don't believe in science then give up your computers/house/car/phone/television... hey you know what.. you might as well just off yourselves, you'll get to "god" faster you polytheistic christian idiots. (Yeah do some bible study your a polytheistic religion you have 4 gods and a lot of demi-gods. Even you Fundi psycho's you a sect or christian cult so your in the same boat.) Sorry if that offends. Truth Hurts.
There are no gods - just deal with it...
I know concepts like the big bang are difficult for some people to get their heads around. And not all of us are physicists. But don't write-off the discoveries of hundreds of years and many brilliant minds without making some effort to understand what has been discovered (and how it was discovered). Bill Bryson's friendly book "A Short History of Nearly Everything" is a brilliant introduction for non-scientists to what is known so far. It's also a wake-up call. We owe almost everything good about the modern world to science--longer life, better health, greater comfort etc. The fewer of us who understand this, the faster we're going to go backwards into the dark ages.
Science, it works b*tches!
http://xkcd.com/54/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COBE
Radioactive decay happens without a cause. Unstable nuclei decay just because they can; there is no way to predict when any particular nucleus will decay, and no way to influence it.
Aww man, the stupid thing got rid off all my formatting above. Well, it'll be a b!tch to read now.
"The bottom line is God created the earth."
Maybe. Maybe not. It's unimportant, really. The question on the minds of scientists is how, not why or by whom.
"Scientist have been trying to "prove" the big bang theory for years with no success."
False. Do some reading. Preferably from sources other than Conservapedia or WorldNetDaily.
"Just accept the fact that there is a greater being, GOD, that created us and everything around us."
"Don't ask questions, just listen to me and go no further." If we all shared that attitude, we'd still be living in caves.
"Who created the stuff that made the big bang in the first place, if it did in fact happen? Exactly."
Exactly... what? So we don't know yet. We'll figure it out someday. As the saying goes, "the larger the island of knowledge, the greater the coast of mystery." And why is "who" even a question? That's like saying "how is my TV?" or "who is the colour orange".
"Remeber that it used to be heresy to believe that the world went around the sun but science prevailed and now that has been taken out of the Christian faith."
You'd be surprised at the people who still think the Earth is the centre of the universe. Oh, the arrogance.
"All you creationists have no proof for a deity. Stop ruining America with your stupidity."
Worst case scenario, America will suffer a terrible brain-drain as all intelligent people flee the smoking fields of burning stupid left behind. But all the people who care about something like that will just move to Europe or Canada or something (though we still have our nutters here up north).
"Although I find that whole idea of a "big bang" happening spontaneously very hard to believe."
What do you mean spontaneously? As in without cause by a sentient being? Equally exotic things happen on Earth and around the universe all the time. To think the universe is incapable of working without the guidance of conscience is quite arrogant.
/pontification
The level of logical introspection shown here by the theistic community is appalling. Okay, you say God created the universe. Right, so who created God? Super-God perhaps.
Now come the complaints "waaaa, but God has always existed!!!" scream the Christians. Really? So, how is it different to posit that God has always existed, or that the universe has always existed. To me, it seems you are just changing words around.
Now, onto specific comments.
Brittany. Why do you disagree with the Big Bang Theory? What evidence do you have? What inconsistencies are there in the model? How long have you studied astronomy? Wait, what's that? You base your argument on an internally inconsistent text written by bronze age goatherds? Why, how quaint.
Josh. I find quantum physics and string theory hard to believe - yet quantum physics is amazingly accurate in its predictions. I find it hard to understand that the universe is 27 billion light years across, but it is. I find many true things hard to believe. I find it even harder to believe that there is a big man in the sky with a white beard, who can listen to 6 billion people whispering to him at the same time. Actually, scratch that last one. I find it impossible to believe.
Gary. Actually, that was the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Teresa. There are these wonderful things called "books". You should try reading one some time - they're wonderful, you'd love them. As for "proving" the Big Bang, well, it's a scientific theory (and no, that doesn't mean the same as the word theory as misused in common parlance - rather it means "a systematic explanation of a large body of facts"), up there with gravity. Gravity is "just" a theory. Perhaps you should read up on the Cosmic Background Radiation.
Believers have been trying to prove gawd's existance for even longer with less success. I'll stick with science, thank you. Science gave you the electronics that allow you to sit at your product of science (computer) to deride science. What has gawd done for me? Nada. What has science done for me? I don't have enough characters available to give a complete list, 4000 wouldn't cover it.
(Even paragraph breaks are automatically removed. I don't get it. Why should anyone do that?)
Teresa and Brittany, you don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you admit that to yourselves?
That said, _"believe" isn't the right term_. Scientists don't believe in anything, they rank possibilities according to their probabilities. Science cannot prove (surprise for Teresa!), only disprove. It just so happens that all alternatives to the Big Bang theory that have been proposed so far have been disproven -- they contradict some observations.
"God said BANG and it happen just as He wanted it to be."
That's possible, but not a necessary assumption, as quantum physics shows.
(Oh man. Any HTML is a "potentially dangerous request"? Pathetic. If comments have to be in plain text, tell me up front!)
The bottom line is that there is no such thing as your imaginary superfriend. The bottom line is, it is a sad commentary on this country that so many people cling so pathetically to ancient superstition and mythology and confuse it with fact. I realize this is because it is much easier to be told what to think, as opposed to actually THINKING something through (and accepting the reality of not being able to know the answers to some questions and/or putting forth a sustained collective cognitive effort to *gasp* learn the answers via scientific methodologies rather than swallowing a pretend fantasy story created by primitive people a thousand years ago as literal fact-that is just pathetic and sad, really.) You can brush that Pretty Pony's Magical Mane all you want, children, but it won't make it real.
I'm not saying you can't have your beliefs. The issue comes up when you selectively deny the findings of science while remaining ignorant of those findings. If you wish to deny established theories like the Big Bang or Evolution through natural selection, you must first understand them. Then, if you still wish to deny them, you are making a rational decision instead of blindly following a dogma written by people thousands of years ago who didn't understand the way their world worked.
It's also interesting that we don't hear people denying other scientific theories such as the Germ Theory of Disease (disease is caused by germs) or the Theory of Gravitation. No one seems to have a problem with Evolution and mutation when discussing viruses like the bird flu mutating.
A position based upon ignorance is no foundation for anything.
The Big Bang is very well established. Do any of you really believe that you know more about astronomy and science than the people who run the Hubble Space Telescope and numerous other telescopes, understand the physics involved, and analyze their data? You are probably the same persons who think that the three Ls -- Libertarians, Limbaugh, and LaRouche -- know more about science than working scientists who have studied their subjects for twenty or forty years.
The discovery of the expanding universe was one of the big 20th-century discoveries. The expanding universe has been observed and studied for three quarters of a century now. In the 1960s, they discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation, often termed the echo of the Big Bang.
Science is extremely accurate. The last thing we need is mass scientific illiteracy and incompetence.
The big bang theory does NOT say something came from nothing. It wasn't something IN space/time that exploded rather an expansion of space/time itself. If you disagree with it know that you disagree with MOUNTAINS of evidence and some of the worlds brightest minds. For more about Primacy of Existence i suggest reading http://bahnsenburner.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html
Peace!
All you creationists have no proof for a deity. Stop ruining America with your stupidity.
There is well-supported evidence with fairly small error bars that the Big Bang happened 10.7 billion years ago and there is evidence to support the fact that the Earth is 4.6 billion years old and that life evolved.
Take your stupidity to Saudi Arabia; they'll welcome you there.
It's hard to believe that so many people are so ignorant about the science of astronomy.
The bottom line is God created the earth. Scientist have been trying to "prove" the big bang theory for years with no success. Just accept the fact that there is a greater being, GOD, that created us and everything around us.
I just don't see how people can not believe science. Remeber that it used to be heresy to believe that the world went around the sun but science prevailed and now that has been taken out of the Christian faith. If I made a religion today that said that gravity was a myth, you wouldn't believe it because you don't believe in this little religion and you are unbiased, so you go with what has been proven as science as I'm doing.
I believe in the Big Bang Theory. God said BANG and it happen just as He wanted it to be.
Who created the stuff that made the big bang in the first place, if it did in fact happen? Exactly. Although I find that whole idea of a "big bang" happening spontaneously very hard to believe.
I really disagree with the big bang theory.