Science Refutes God

A wide-ranging interview with Lawrence Krauss after the publication of his book, A Universe From Nothing.

Following the breakthrough discovery of the Higgs particle, Krauss explains its importance in the universe’s creation.

Two prominent advocates for science discuss how scientists should approach religion and its followers.

As particle physics revolutionizes the concepts of "something" (elementary particles and the forces that bind them) and "nothing" (the dynamics of empty space or even the absence of space), the famous question, "Why is there something rather than nothing?" is also revolutionized.

Tensions between religion and science will persist unless believers recognise that skepticism is a hallmark of science.

Julian Baggini fears that, as we learn more and more about the universe, scientists are becoming increasingly determined to stamp their mark on other disciplines. Here, he challenges theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss over 'mission creep' among his peers.

Krauss explains the groundbreaking new scientific advances that turn the most basic philosophical questions on their heads in his newest book.

“Science is a verb and a way of thinking about things.”

Shermer and D’Souza debate whether religion is a force for good or evil in the world, and whether morality requires God.

Michael Shermer gives his argument against the existence of God.

“Are atheists who believe in aliens falling for one of humanity's oldest brain biases?”

Shermer discusses his new book and argues, among other things, that religious and scientific attempts at the afterlife are problematic. 

“Religion was the first social institution to canonize moral principles, and God as an explanatory pattern for the world took on new powers as the ultimate enforcer of the rules. Thus it is that people are religious and believe in God.”

“I believe that it is time to step out of our religious traditions and embrace science as the best tool ever devised for explaining how the world works, and to work together to create a social and political world that embraces moral principles and yet allows for natural human diversity to flourish.”

“Religion and philosophy have had their say for thousands of years what’s moral and not moral. I’m just saying let’s add to our quiver the arrow of science.”

“Why the decline? One factor is the dramatic spread of democracy around the globe over the past half a century.”

“The arc of the moral universe bends not only toward justice, but toward truth and freedom, and these positive outcomes have largely been the product of societies moving toward more secular forms of governance and politics, law and jurisprudence, moral reasoning and ethical analysis.”

“Religion. It is religion more than anything else that keeps people from wanting others to have the same rights as they do.”

“’There is no one answer to what makes a perfect society,’ he [Michael Shermer] says, and the attempt to create an earthly paradise can turn murderous.”

“Shermer begins with a simple notion: Humans are mortal, and yet it is near impossible to imagine our mortality. You cannot picture your death because you would no longer exist to experience it.”

“Skepticism, it would seem, is context-dependent.”

“We live in the here and now, not the hereafter, so our actions must be judged according to the criteria of this category, whether or not the category of a God-granted hereafter exists.”

Shermer explores what created the universe and explains multiple universes, M-theory, quantum foam creation, and other hypotheses still in their formative stage.

Shermer discusses 12 possible answers to the question of why there is something rather than nothing.

Forget about resurrection - the only way to reach immortality is by creating a legacy.

Shermer examines the difference between supernatural design (creationism) and natural design (evolution).

Scientology’s origins were based in a science fiction’s writer’s desire to earn money and have no actual basis in science.