Victor J. Stenger
12 quotes
Biography
"Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings."
"The universe is not fine-tuned to us; we are fine-tuned to our particular universe."
"The so-called mysteries of quantum mechanics are in its philosophical interpretation, not in its mathematics."
"The problem is that people think faith is something to be admired. In fact, faith means you believe in something for which you have no evidence."
"Science is not going to change its commitment to the truth. We can only hope religion changes its commitment to nonsense."
"The existence of matter and energy in the universe did not require the violation of energy conservation at the assumed creation. In fact, the data strongly support the hypothesis that no such miracle occurred. If we regard such a miracle as predicted by the creator hypothesis, then the prediction is not confirmed."
"Infinity...is used in physics simply as a shorthand for "a very big number.”"
"The God of the gaps argument for God fails when a plausible scientific account for a gap in current knowledge can be given. I do not dispute that the exact nature of the origin of the universe remains a gap in scientific knowledge. But I deny that we are bereft of any conceivable way to account for that origin scientifically."
"We have yet to encounter an observable astronomical phenomenon that requires a supernatural element to be added to a model in order to describe the event...Observations in cosmology look just as they can be expected to look if there is no God."
"[T]he most fundamental laws of physics are not restrictions on the behaviour of matter. Rather, they are restrictions on the way physicists may describe that behaviour."
"The transition of nothing-to-something is a natural one, not requiring any agent. As Nobel laureate physicist Frank Wilczek has put it, "The answer to the ancient question 'Why is there something rather than nothing?' would then be that 'nothing' is unstable." [...] In short, the natural state of affairs is something rather than nothing. An empty universe requires supernatural intervention--not a full one. 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."
"Selling eternal life is an unbeatable business, with no customers ever asking for their money back after the goods are not delivered."