Refuting Atheism

On February 10, 2024, the first day of the Lunar New Year, many young people were among the crowd offering incense and praying for blessings at the Yonghe Temple in Beijing. (Screenshot from a video)

[People News] In ancient Greece, there was a philosophical school called the Stoic School. They proposed a concept known as "natural law." The Stoics believed that there exists a supreme will or order in the universe, and that all natural laws in nature, as well as all moral principles and just laws of humanity, align with this supreme order. This is the Stoic School’s theory of natural law, which essentially suggests that a highest will or highest law governs everything in the universe.

Fast forward to the 17th century. The famous physicist Isaac Newton once wanted to convince an atheist friend of his that God exists. So, he built a model of the solar system and placed it in his home. He then invited his friend over for dinner. When the friend arrived and saw the solar system model, he asked Newton who made it. Newton replied that no one made it—it just formed on its own. His friend did not believe him and said, "How could such a complex model form by itself? Someone must have created it."

Newton then responded, "You don’t believe that this complex model could form on its own, so why do you believe that the real solar system, which is far more complex than this model, formed by itself? Our solar system, and indeed the entire universe, is vastly more intricate than this man-made model—so doesn’t it require a creator?" Newton believed that a supreme will created the universe, which aligns with the Stoic School’s perspective. However, while Newton called this supreme will "God," the Stoics referred to it as "natural law." In conclusion, the universe operates according to certain laws—some call them natural laws, some call them universal principles, and some, like Newton, call them God.

Moreover, many famous and inexplicable events throughout history provide evidence that God exists. For example, in the early 20th century, the Fatima event in Portugal occurred. In this incident, the entire town of Fatima witnessed an apparition of the Virgin Mary. If only one person had seen the apparition, it could be dismissed as a hallucination, but the fact that the entire town saw the same vision at the same time and place makes it impossible to explain as a mere hallucination.

Another example is the Our Lady of Guadalupe event in Mexico. In 1531, an image of the Virgin Mary appeared on the cloak of an indigenous man named Juan Diego. This event caused a great sensation at the time. Later, scientists discovered that the image of the Virgin on the cloak had no trace of brushstrokes, meaning that the image was not painted. It seemed to have appeared instantly. Furthermore, when the image was magnified using instruments, figures of the people who had witnessed the apparition were visible in the Virgin’s eyes. At that time, photography had not yet been invented, nor did microscopic painting techniques exist, yet the figures were clearly imprinted in the Virgin’s eyes and could only be seen under magnification. This phenomenon cannot be explained using materialist viewpoints. These examples provide evidence for the existence of God.

So, where does God exist? To understand this question, we must examine one of the most famous experiments in the history of physics—the double-slit experiment with electrons. After the scientific community confirmed that light exhibits both wave and particle properties (wave-particle duality), some scientists wondered whether electrons also possess this dual nature, meaning that electrons could behave both as waves and as particles. To investigate this, scientists conducted a double-slit experiment with electrons. They fired electrons at a barrier with two slits and then observed the pattern left on a screen behind the barrier after the electrons passed through the slits. If electrons were purely waves, then as a wave passed through both slits, it would split into two waves. When these two waves interfered with each other, their peaks and troughs would form multiple interference fringes. This interference pattern would then appear as multiple bands on the screen, created by the electrons. On the other hand, if electrons were purely particles, each electron would pass through only one slit. In that case, the screen would display only two bands corresponding to the two slits, without any interference pattern.

In the experiment, scientists found multiple traces on the wall behind the barrier, indicating that electrons behave as waves. However, they sought to understand how electrons transition from a particle form to a wave. To investigate this, they used instruments to observe how electrons pass through the slits. Strangely, after using the instruments, the electron traces projected onto the wall reverted to two.

This situation resembles the question of whether an observer is present, which serves as a variable in the experiment. When an observer tracks the electron's trajectory, the electrons display particle characteristics, while in the absence of observation, they exhibit wave characteristics. It is as if the electrons are alive and deliberately conceal their trajectories from observers. In response to this phenomenon, scientists proposed a theory known as the stacking theory, which posits that the wave state and particle state of electrons coexist objectively. When an observation occurs, the state collapses into a particle form. However, physicist Erwin Schrödinger challenged this notion with a thought experiment. He suggested a scenario where a radioactive element is placed in a box, which may either decay or remain stable. If it decays, it triggers a mechanism that shatters a vial of poison inside the box, resulting in the death of a cat contained within. Upon opening the box, the observer would find a dead cat.

Conversely, if the radioactive element does not decay, the cat remains unharmed, and the observer would see a living cat upon opening the box. According to the implications of the stacking theory, this means that prior to opening the box, the cat exists in a state of being both alive and dead. Once the box is opened, these two possibilities collapse into a single outcome. Schrödinger argued that this interpretation is hard to accept.

Subsequently, physicists introduced the theory of parallel spaces to explain this phenomenon, suggesting that the stacking effect occurs within these parallel spaces. In one space, electrons behave as waves, while in another, they behave as particles. When instruments detect these phenomena, only the conditions of one specific space are revealed to observers. This theory provides a clear explanation for Schrödinger's cat experiment: in some spaces, the cat is alive, while in others, it is dead. When the box is opened, the situation collapses into one of these spaces.

The theory of parallel spaces has gained considerable acceptance among scientists in the field of quantum physics. If parallel spaces indeed exist, it raises the possibility that God may reside in one of these spaces, which could be what people refer to as heaven. 

(First published by People News)