God's Big Bang

"Evolution of countless species developed over the course of time, millions of years, with a crescendo into humankind. The only way that the biblical story and the Darwinian theory seemingly part company is that the latter sees all this coming about through random mutation and natural selection."

You overlooked the fact that even if you interpret the "days" of the Bible as eras of a very long time, they're still listed in 2 different orders--both wrong. Also, evolution does not work in any one direction. We happened to develop intelligence, but we are just as well suited to our environment as an earthworm is to its environs. I'm not equating us with worms (obviously), I'm saying evolution has no predetermined goal. You might say that we came up with the idea of God because we have intelligence, not that we have intelligence because of God.

Also, science really doesn't need God at all. All of the things you mentioned are easily done through the (overall) goodness of people. It's a feature shared by our fellow primates, and it evolved because it's good for both the individual and the group.

On a personal note, I guess I would speak out against atheism if I were an ordained clergyman. I mean, if there's no flock, where are my future earnings going to come from?

Before I say anything else, I have a message for "Carl Frikkin Sagan."  I frikkin love you.  Your comments are awesome.

 So Rabbi, let's say for the sake of argument that "God" created the big bang.  What does the Torah tell you about where "God" came from?  I'll accept that the Big Bang couldn't have come from nothing.  So, why is "God" exempt from the origin requirement?  What was "God" doing before the Big Bang?

 More importantly, where is "God" now?  He used to hang out with us, but in the last chapter of Deuteronomy he told us that he was going to hide his face from us.  Isn't that a little convenient?  Have you ever noticed that "God's" miracle diminished in quality the closer they got temporally to the present day?  In the time of the Exodus, "God" parted the waters of the Red Sea and sent fiery hail from the skies.  By the time of the Maccabean revolt, it was a miracle if some holy oil lasted longer than it was supposed to.  Is this a coincidence, or did the rabbis realize they were dealing with a less gullible population? 

You asked, "why did the universe not completely self-annihilate an instant after the Big Bang?"  Let me answer that with a question, "why would the universe completely self-annihilate an instant after the Big Bang?"  Based on what we know of the physics, there is no reason to suppose that it would.  We would no more need "God" to stop the universe from self-annihilating than we would need him to make sure that apples fall down from trees instead of falling up.  That's just the kind of universe the Big Bang created.

 You asked, "Given the wide swings in temperature, how did Earth come to have an environment hospitable to life?"  Your question betrays a mistaken assumption about the fragility of life.  You should look up extremophiles, like the organisms that live happily near thermal vents in the ocean floor, an environment that would kill most of the life we know.  We are beginning to learn that life is much hardier and can exist under much more extreme conditions than we might have thought.  Your assertion that "even the slightest variation of temperature would have made any biological existence on this planet impossible" simply does not match scientific observations.  Ours may not even be the only planet in our solar system that harbors living organisms.

I don't know what Torah you've been reading, but in mine the story of Genesis parts ways with scientific theories way before we get to mankind.  It's a book written by a primitive people with a primitive understanding of the natural world.  According to Genesis, the Earth existed first, before there was even light.  "God" created light and then separated it from dark, creating the difference between day and night.  It was only later that "God" made the Sun, because clearly the Sun is not necessary for the whole day and night transition.  Also according to Genesis, space is an area filled with water that sits on top of the atmosphere.  The atmosphere (firmament) exists to separate the waters above from the waters below.  Sometimes it leaks, and that's why we have rain.

The Genesis stories (as Carl Frikkin Sagan mentioned, Genesis does contain 2 creation myths, rather than just 1) are very clever, but they are not in any way scientific. 

I wouldn't expect a 13 year-old to know enough about science or the bible to be able to argue well against a fully grown rabbi.  13 is just too young to have acquired the knowledge necessary to understand the underpinnings of evolutionary biology and physics.  Rather than making uninformed 13 year-olds make decisions about the existence and/or importance of "God," why not teach them about Jewish values, one of which is skepticism?  There's plenty of time to consider the "God" questions when they're older and able to draw on broader knowledge to make their conclusions.  I have long thought that one of the best things about my Jewish religious school education was that it allowed me to become an atheist.  I hope you'll show your students the same courtesy. 

"Your assertion that "even the slightest variation of temperature would have made any biological existence on this planet impossible"
simply does not match scientific observations.  Ours may not even be
the only planet in our solar system that harbors living organisms."

It's also a logical fallacy. It is no different from arguing that the life itself is 'proof' of God's existence, God being the God referenced in the Bible, Koran, or a Hindu holy text for that matter. The fact that the environment was hospitable to the existence of life does not in and of itself show that God made it that way. Arguing that God exists because X=X is ridiculous.

This is not to suggest that faith in God is wrong, or untrue, or false. Faith is assertion. Everyone asserts that what they see, think and feel are real things. But these assertions cannot be proven as such. We live according to these  assumptions because we must, because it is the only practical way to live--and all but those who commit suicide, obviously, assert that life is worth lviing. Those who subscribe to a religious faith--whether that faith be Judaism, as is the case with the author, or any other faith--simply assert that 'God', in their understanding of him, exists, and provided them with certain rules or laws to follow.

Stating the obvious 101: I'm a freaking expert. 

--And here the author asserts a belief in God not inconsistent with the science of the Big Bang. I'm pleased with that. But obviously that doesn't prove God's existence, anymore than anything else can.

Thanks, Justin, and good posts, Zeev! It's especially disappointing that the Rabbi actually seems to know a bit about what he's talking about...unfortunately, JUST a bit.