Atheism 14. The God of the gaps

Robert Winston's programme "The Story of God" emphasised the point that science has slowly but surely undermined the grounds to believe in supernatural deities.Everything about the body and mind can be explained without reference to a soul.There is no place in the human body for a soul to hide - it is really a misconception about the animated state of matter that gives rise to emergent processes.The things that confound the creationist mind are things like how termites manage to make a tower that is able to regulate temperature without any one termite having a design plan -or how human minds can concieve of new thoughts when matter does not seem to have the capacity to think.The requisite concepts that explain how these things are possible without indulging in supernatural mysticism are complexity theory and emergent systems theory For those who think God is compatibe with science - they are apt to say "Everything I see around me conforms to the scientific rules.....but it was God that made those rules". This makes God nothing but a cosmic button-pusher,and as this he is not God,for if the rules can run by themselves once God started them,we have no need for any such concept thereafter. We have only to show the believer now why it is that God could not have pushed the button. We could argue that even if he did - there is no one to have made God and thence we are stuck with requiring a METAgod who created God. We could argue that he is nothing if he is only a button pusher. We could argue that we do not need him once he has pushed the button. But the proper argument is to show that there is no button to press,for it is the idea that God CAN start the universe that leads to someone thinking that God and science are mutally viable. I have many articles online which demonstrate that there is no button to press and that order can arise spontaneously from chaos with no help from an orderer. Theological Implications of Chaos Theory - The impact of Chaos Theory upon beliefs. The self organising cosmos - Deals with the William Paley argument. What happened before the big-bang? - Shows that there is no BEFORE to push a button. Into the 11th dimension - Shows how a universe could come to be in a higher space. Where do we come from? - Shows how the rules don't need a rule creator. Figments of Reality - The maths of emergent systems and evolution. Frontiers of Complexity - Some of the complexity that is missing from a creationist perspective. If you are one of those who believes that God and science are compatible even after reading the above,then track down Jim Al-Khalili's "The Secret Life of Chaos"- and if after that you have not become atheist,then you are either extremely dumb or extremely stubborn - neither of which your God would thank your for being.