http://www.riseofislam.com/rise_of_faith_02.html

Cosmology: The Collapse of the Concept of An Eternal
Universe and the Discovery of Creation

The first blow to atheism from twentieth-century science was in the
field of cosmology.

http://www.riseofislam.com/rise_of_faith_02.html

Cosmology: The Collapse of the Concept of An Eternal
Universe and the Discovery of Creation

The first blow to atheism from twentieth-century science was in the
field of cosmology. The idea that the universe had existed forever was
discounted, for scientists discovered that it had a beginning. In other
words, they proved scientifically that the universe had been created
from nothing.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804; above) proposed that the universe was
eternal, a claim that is strongly defended by materialists.

This idea of an eternal universe came to the Western world, along with
materialist philosophy, from classical Greek civilization. It stated
that only matter exists, and that the universe comes from eternity and
goes to eternity. In the Middle Ages, when the Catholic church
dominated Western thought, materialism was forgotten. However, in the
modern period Western scientists and philosophers became consumed with
curiosity about these classical Greek origins and revived an interest
in materialism.

The first person to propose a materialist understanding of the universe
was the renowned German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), even
though he was not a materialist in the philosophical sense of the word.
Kant proposed that the universe was eternal and that every possibility
could be realized only within this eternity. With the coming of the
nineteenth century, it became widely accepted that the universe had no
beginning and that there had been no moment of creation. Adopted
passionately by such dialectical materialists as Marx and Engels, this
idea found its way into the twentieth century.

This idea has always been compatible with atheism, for accepting that
the universe had a beginning would mean that God had created it. Thus

the only way to counter this idea was to claim that the universe was
eternal, even though science did not support such a claim. Georges
Politzer (1903-42), a dogged proponent of this claim, became widely
known as a supporter of materialism and Marxism in the first half of
the twentieth century through his book Principes Fondamentaux de
Philosophie (The Fundamental Principles of Philosophy). Assuming the
"eternal universe" model to be valid, he opposed the idea of creation:

The universe was not a created object. If it were, then it would
have to be created instantaneously by God and brought into existence
from nothing. To admit creation, one has to admit, in the first place,
the existence of a moment when the universe did not exist, and that
something came out of nothingness. This is something to which science
cannot accede.4


In the picture above we see Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1820-95) at
an 1847 meeting in London defending their atheist views.

By supporting the idea of an eternal universe, Politzer thought that
science was on his side. However, very soon thereafter, the fact that
he had alluded to by saying "if it is so, we must accept the existence
of a creator," that is, that the universe had a beginning, was proven.
This proof came as a result of the "Big Bang" theory, perhaps the most
important concept of twentieth-century astronomy.

http://www.riseofislam.com/rise_of_faith_02.html

Cosmology: The Collapse of the Concept of An Eternal
Universe and the Discovery of Creation

The first blow to atheism from twentieth-century science was in the
field of cosmology. The idea that the universe had existed forever was
discounted, for scientists discovered that it had a beginning. In other
words, they proved scientifically that the universe had been created
from nothing.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804; above) proposed that the universe was
eternal, a claim that is strongly defended by materialists.

This idea of an eternal universe came to the Western world, along with
materialist philosophy, from classical Greek civilization. It stated
that only matter exists, and that the universe comes from eternity and
goes to eternity. In the Middle Ages, when the Catholic church
dominated Western thought, materialism was forgotten. However, in the
modern period Western scientists and philosophers became consumed with
curiosity about these classical Greek origins and revived an interest
in materialism.

The first person to propose a materialist understanding of the universe
was the renowned German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), even
though he was not a materialist in the philosophical sense of the word.
Kant proposed that the universe was eternal and that every possibility
could be realized only within this eternity.

With the coming of the
nineteenth century, it became widely accepted that the universe had no
beginning and that there had been no moment of creation. Adopted
passionately by such dialectical materialists as Marx and Engels, this
idea found its way into the twentieth century.

This idea has always been compatible with atheism, for accepting that
the universe had a beginning would mean that God had created it.

Thus
the only way to counter this idea was to claim that the universe was
eternal, even though science did not support such a claim. Georges
Politzer (1903-42), a dogged proponent of this claim, became widely
known as a supporter of materialism and Marxism in the first half of
the twentieth century through his book Principes Fondamentaux de
Philosophie (The Fundamental Principles of Philosophy). Assuming the
"eternal universe" model to be valid, he opposed the idea of creation:

The universe was not a created object. If it were, then it would
have to be created instantaneously by God and brought into existence
from nothing. To admit creation, one has to admit, in the first place,
the existence of a moment when the universe did not exist, and that
something came out of nothingness. This is something to which science
cannot accede.4

In the picture above we see Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1820-95) at
an 1847 meeting in London defending their atheist views.

By supporting the idea of an eternal universe, Politzer thought that
science was on his side. However, very soon thereafter, the fact that
he had alluded to by saying "if it is so, we must accept the existence
of a creator," that is, that the universe had a beginning, was proven.
This proof came as a result of the "Big Bang" theory, perhaps the most
important concept of twentieth-century astronomy.

The Big Bang theory was formulated after a series of discoveries. In
1929, the American astronomer Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) noticed that the
galaxies were continually moving away from each other and that the
universe was expanding. If the flow of time in an expanding universe
were reversed, the whole universe must have come from a single point.
While assessing the validity of Hubble's discovery, astronomers were
faced with the fact that this single point was a "metaphysical" state
of reality in which there was an infinite gravitational attraction with
no mass. Matter and time came into being through the explosion of this
mass-less point. In other words, the universe was created from nothing.

On the one hand, some die-hard materialist astronomers have tried to
resist the Big Bang theory and maintain the idea of an eternal
universe. Arthur Eddington (1882-1944), a renowned materialist
physicist, summed up their view quite well when he said:
"Philosophically, the notion of an abrupt beginning to the present
order of Nature is repugnant to me."5 Despite this repugnance, however,
the Big Bang theory continues to be corroborated by concrete scientific
discoveries. In their observations made in the 1960s, Arno Penzias and
Robert Wilson detected radioactive remains of the explosion (cosmic
background radiation). These observations were verified in the 1990s by
the COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) satellite.

The materialists' claim that the "universe is eternal" was disproved by
Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) discovery that the universe began from one
point as the result of a great explosion.

Confronted with all of these facts, atheists have been squeezed into a
corner. Anthony Flew, an atheist professor of philosophy at the
University of Reading and author of Atheistic Humanism, makes this
interesting confession:

Notoriously, confession is good for the soul. I will therefore begin by
confessing that the Stratonician atheist has to be embarrassed by the
contemporary cosmological consensus. For it seems that the cosmologists
are providing a scientific proof of what St. Thomas contended could not
be proved philosophically; namely, that the universe had a beginning.
So long as the universe can be comfortably thought of as being not only
without end but also without beginning, it remains easy to urge that
its brute existence, and whatever are found to be its most fundamental
features, should be accepted as the explanatory ultimates. Although I
believe that it remains still correct, it certainly is neither easy nor
comfortable to maintain this position in the face of the Big Bang
story.6

An example of the atheists' reaction to the Big Bang theory is seen in
a 1989 article by John Maddox, editor of Nature, one of the best-known
materialist-scientific journals. In his article, entitled "Down with
the Big Bang," Maddox wrote that the Big Bang is "philosophically
unacceptable," because "creationists and those of similar persuasions
... have ample justification in the doctrine of the Big Bang." He also
predicted that it "is unlikely to survive the decade ahead."7
However, despite Maddox' hopes, the Big Bang theory continues to gain
credence, and new discoveries continue to prove that the universe was
created.

Some materialists have a relatively logical view of this issue. For
example, the English materialist physicist H. P. Lipton "unwillingly"
accepts the scientific fact of creation. He writes:

I think ... that we must ... admit that the only acceptable explanation
is creation. I know that this is anathema to physicists, as indeed it
is to me, but we must not reject a theory that we do not like if the
experimental evidence supports it.8

Thus, modern astronomy proves and states that time and matter were
brought into being by an eternally powerful Creator, Who is independent
of both of them. The eternal power that created the universe in which
we live is God, the possessor of infinite might, knowledge, and wisdom.

http://www.riseofislam.com/rise_of_faith_02.html

Thus, modern astronomy proves and states that time and matter were
brought into being by an eternally powerful Creator, Who is independent
of both of them. The eternal power that created the universe in which
we live is God, the possessor of infinite might, knowledge, and wisdom.

The first blow to atheism from twentieth-century science was in the
field of cosmology.