God and Science: Can Science prove the existence of God

          We are curious beings by nature. If someone refers to you as “Homo Sapien” take that as a compliment, it’s not a curse word. As human beings we have a highly developed brain capable of reasoning, problem solving, and rationality. The “wise man” is what we are. As a kid, I was notorious for challenging my parents’ patience with my countless “Whys.” Granted my “whys” were motivated out of rebellion than curiosity but we all know kids learn more about the world around them by asking “why.” It is said that the older we get the less we ask “why” questions and accept things at face value. This is prevalent in the field of Science it is described as “the influence of the White Coat.” The wearing of the white coat symbolizes authority, professionalism, trustworthiness and competence. When someone stands in a position of authority or competence it is easy to influence the thinking and decision making of subjects to accept at face value ideas before they have been tested.

            Science for the past several decades has prevailed in this postmodern culture and the discipline of philosophy, reliance on rational arguments has declined. Because of the dominance of science over philosophy, “The white coat” has influenced us to believe that science is the only competent discipline for discerning truth. Face it, when you receive a prescription from your doctor, 9 times out of 10 you don’t question it. You take it to the pharmacy, you pick up what the doctor prescribed, you ingest it and you believe all will be well. We are so persuaded by the influence of science to believe that the only realities that exist are those that can be observed and verified by our senses.  We unconsciously accept that prescription or theory as fact. So when science says, “You show me God, and I’ll believe in Him,” because God can’t be observed nor verified by our senses, we automatically believe science has disproved the existence of God.

            Before I am misunderstood, let me clarify my position. I believe in science. I believe that science is an amazing discipline to discover and understand reality. However, I believe science is limited only to observing and understanding the physical and natural world and to make any claims or arguments about the metaphysical, the supernatural, the immaterial, i.e. God, is out of bounds. Science cannot prove or disprove the existence of God. Because the nature of God is not in a “natural” category, it is a fallacy to argue His existence naturally. Therefore the proper approach to exploring whether God exists is "necessary inference." Drawing deductions that are logically inevitable or unavoidable if the assumptions or premises are true.

             "Science has proved there is no God." Don't ever be bullied by such a statement. Science cannot be certain about anything in an absolute sense. It can provide a high degree of confidence based on evidence that strongly justifies scientific conclusions, but its method never allows certainty. The proper approach to exploring certainty, you must employ the deductive method. So when people try to use science to disprove the existence of God, they're using science illegitimately. Don’t be fooled by the white coats.