Quotes by Victor J. Stenger

Victor J. Stenger

A scenario is suggested by which the universe and its laws could have arisen naturally from nothing. Current cosmology suggests that no laws of physics were violated in bringing the universe into existence. The laws of physics themselves are shown to correspond to what one would expect if the universe appeared from nothing. There is something rather than nothing because something is more stable.

Atheism

Law

Physics

Alternative explanations are always welcome in science, if they are better and explain more. Alternative explanations that explain nothing are not welcome… Note how science changed those beliefs when new data became available. Religions stick to the same ancient beliefs regardless of the data.

Alternatives

Data

Religion

Any attempt at understanding humanity must include an explanation of the hold that supernatural belief continues to have on most of the human race.

Humanity

Race

Understanding

Any strategy that attempts to reinforce faith by undermining science is also doomed to failure. Showing that some scientific theory is wrong will not prove that the religious alternative is correct by default. When the sun was shown not to be the center of the universe, as Copernicus had proposed, the Earth was not moved back to that singular position in the cosmos. If Darwinian evolution is proved wrong, biologists will not develop a new theory based on the hypothesis that each species was created separately by God 6,000years ago.

Cosmos

Religion

Religious

Assuming the universe came from nothing, it is empty to begin with… Only by the constant action of an agent outside the universe, such as God, could a state of nothingness be maintained. The fact that we have something is just what we would expect if there is no God.

Agents

Atheism

Religion

But, as we have seen, movement does not require a mover, and modern quantum mechanics has shown that not all effects require a cause. And even if they did, why would the Prime Mover need to be a supernatural anthropomorphic deity such as the Judeo – Christian God? Why could it not just as well be the material universe itself?

Christian

Doe

Religion

Debating is not an honest intellectual exercise. It’s like a trial in which the goal is not to get to the truth but to win.

Exercise

Goal

Winning

Define self-awareness and tell me what it is about it that requires something more than a material explanation. I do not accept the burden of explaining all phenomena, real or imagined. If you think more than matter is required for this thing you call self-awareness, which you have not defined, then you have the burden of showing why.

Real

Self

Thinking

Fifteen years of skepticism has done more for me than 20 years of force-fed religion and 30 years of indifference in between.

Atheism

Done

Years

I do not think science has to make any apologies. It looks at the world and tells it like it is. And we all live longer, better lives because of this dispassionate view. Sure, it commands awe and provides inspiration. Still, I would rather be operated on by a surgeon who sees me as an assemblage of atoms than one who lovingly tries to manipulate what he or she imagines are my vital energy fields.

Apology

Inspiration

Thinking

Follow The Behaviour University in order to get the greatest quotes from the greatest people of all time so that you can tap into your own greatness.

Agents

Agreement

Alternatives

Apology

Asking

Atheism

Average

Believe

Brain

Burden Of Proof

Christian

Church

Cosmos

Damnation

Data

Doe

Done

Doubt

Earth

Ends

Errors

Eternal

Exercise

Faith

Fall

Fear

Goal

Golden

Horizon

Humanity

Infinite Time

Inspiration

Issues

Jehovah

Law

Life Is

Mathematics

Mean

Medicine

Mind

Moon

Moral Behavior

Mystery

Order

Organization

Pay

People

Philosophical

Physics

Polls

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Quotes by Victor J. Stenger

Victor J. Stenger

Alternative explanations are always welcome in science, if they are better and explain more. Alternative explanations that explain nothing are not welcome… Note how science changed those beliefs when new data became available. Religions stick to the same ancient beliefs regardless of the data.

Any attempt at understanding humanity must include an explanation of the hold that supernatural belief continues to have on most of the human race.

Assuming the universe came from nothing, it is empty to begin with… Only by the constant action of an agent outside the universe, such as God, could a state of nothingness be maintained. The fact that we have something is just what we would expect if there is no God.

Debating is not an honest intellectual exercise. It’s like a trial in which the goal is not to get to the truth but to win.

Fifteen years of skepticism has done more for me than 20 years of force-fed religion and 30 years of indifference in between.

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