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  • What If the Existence of God Was Scientific Fact?

  • Depending on the culture or country, God assumes many shapes and embodies various ideologies.

  • For centuries, humans have worshiped, researchers have studied, and atheists have dismissed

  • the opinion of God... but, what if faith had nothing to do with it?

  • This is Unveiled, and today we're answering the extraordinary question; What If the Existence

  • of God Was Scientific Fact?

  • Are you a fiend for facts?

  • Are you constantly curious?

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  • Science and religion might initially seem incompatible, but both fields are founded

  • on finding apparent 'truths' concerning reality.

  • The main difference between them is the methodology employed to determine fundamental statements.

  • Science demands objectivity and verifiable facts, while religion places its emphasis

  • on faith arising from scripture or dogma.

  • Historically, there have been arguments for and against both.

  • Science deals with hypotheses and theories, which makes it an ever-changing field.

  • In a matter of years, a school textbook can become dramatically out of date simply due

  • to modern discoveries invalidating once-popular ideas.

  • So, if science is constantly evolving, what constitutes a scientific fact?

  • Well, it is a contestable term, but some principles are backed by such an overwhelming amount

  • of empirical evidence, that they're generally seen as beyond reproach.

  • The theories aim to explain an 'unexplained' element of the world; the facts are objective

  • observations.

  • While the sciences have steadily developed throughout history, people have always asked

  • the ultimate question; “But, why?”

  • It's led philosophers to debate the existence of deities for thousands of years, to the

  • point where classical theism argues that we, as humans, simply don't have the required

  • knowledge to define a transcendent God.

  • If the two paths did converge, and we did have empirical proof of an omniscient being,

  • then the world would be a very different place.

  • OKGod is real.

  • And arguing against that is to consciously ignore observable facts.

  • The first concern would still center on defining what exactly the now-confirmed God is.

  • Countless religions exist with their own belief systems, though Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity

  • are arguably amongst the most pervasive current institutions with a deity.

  • Many Hindus consider Brahman to be the Supreme Being who assumes many forms.

  • Muslims believe in Allah, a transcendent entity responsible for creating the universe.

  • And, Christians see God as a being who sent Jesus to save humans from their sins.

  • Significant variations exist between all three, but there are certain shared characteristics.

  • For the sake of today's question, God is supreme, monotheistic, omnipotent, and omnipresent.

  • But, as centuries-old ideas are flung into disarray, people's primary (perhaps natural)

  • concern would still be to determine whether the certified deity is, in fact, their God.

  • The global confusion would be unlike anything else ever experienced, with two main, feasible

  • consequences.

  • The first; all current religions would dissolve, to birth a new belief system idolizing the

  • scientifically proven God.

  • Theoretically uniting cultures, such an outcome could usher-in a new era of peace.

  • Though, such an idealistic resolution would be a 'best case scenario'.

  • The secondand perhaps more plausibleoutcome involves religions weaving science's

  • God into their pre-existing belief systems.

  • The God becomes everyone's God, but disagreements between interpretations would still happen.

  • Here, religions without a singular deity are likely to suffer worst.

  • The meditative teachings of something like Buddhism could survive the change, but even

  • they don't leave much room for a factual God.

  • In such a universe, denying God means rejecting science, which puts atheism in quite a pickle,

  • too.

  • Would non-believers disappear overnight?

  • Probably not, but they might now take the form of nonconformists rather than atheists.

  • For a real-world comparison, despite the mountains of evidence showing the Earth to be round,

  • not everyone accepts this as an undeniable truth.

  • Facts aren't always enough, and even a 'proven God' wouldn't be accepted by everyone

  • especially if its existence isn't regularly reaffirmed by science, as a reminder.

  • Researchers would also be far from done.

  • Scientific facts are commonly used as bedrocks to form additional theories and 'laws'.

  • In the real world, again, it's a fact that letting go of your phone prompts it to plummet

  • to the ground, but Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation enables the speed and force of

  • impact to be calculated.

  • Then there's Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, which tries to explain why the

  • phone falls downwards rather than floating upwards or remaining suspended in midair.

  • And so, proving God proposes a whole new range of mysteries.

  • Why does God exist?

  • How does God impact other fundamental theories?

  • Even if nothing appears to actually change, our entire understanding of the natural world

  • would be challenged.

  • As would our thoughts on the birth of the universe, and life itself.

  • Scientists wouldn't be satisfied with only confirming God's existence, and would next

  • seek to understand God's will.

  • Meanwhile, those who had previously had 'faith' in God would see that taken away from them,

  • too.

  • There'd be no need to 'believe' in something we know to be true.

  • Both shifts could have a major impact.

  • For example; the afterlife.

  • While exceptions do exist, most religions assume admission into "The Good Place" is

  • in some way determined by a person's lifelong efforts.

  • If this became scientific fact, it should create worldwide peace of mind.

  • If the conditions to avoidThe Bad Placewere known, criminal behavior should theoretically

  • decline since there's no escaping judgment.

  • However, accountability isn't always a credible deterrent for crime, so, a completely safe

  • Utopia is still dubious.

  • Human accountability is one thing, but the reverse also holds true; Godly responsibility.

  • Things like earthquakes and tsunamis suddenly seem a lot more purposeful.

  • Like the Old Testament's Great Flood, any catastrophic disasters would be seen as a

  • clear message from God, rather than an act controlled by nature.

  • By extension, areas subjected to fewer disasters could suddenly (and dangerously) claim a divine

  • superiority over less fortunate places.

  • Natural events have often been attributed (by some) to some sort of divine plan, in

  • the past.

  • But, there'd now be a switch between believing everything happens for a reason, and knowing

  • that it does.

  • And that reason would be God.

  • But, more than that, we'd need to determine if (and where) free will and God's will

  • differ.

  • If a flood happens, would it 100% be God's fault?

  • Or, does part of the blame still lay with whoever was in charge of maintaining flood

  • defenses?

  • God's presence would place every incident under a microscope, possibly undermining humanity's

  • basic ideas of justice and fairness.

  • Karl Marx famously described religion asthe opium of the people”, a quote often presented

  • as a criticism of theology.

  • And, while religion's place in society would clearly change, its hold on the people probably

  • wouldn't.

  • In fact, a confirmed God could have even greater sway over its 'followers', discouraging

  • the masses from revolting via a belief that the Kingdom of God rewards suffering.

  • Our mortal lives could be more widely seen as only 'stepping stones', because in

  • this alternate reality where God and the afterlife are a given, who'd be willing to risk eternal

  • damnation for a non-conformist 60 or 70 years on Earth?

  • Inevitably, though, feelings of fear, paranoia and contempt would brew.

  • This would perhaps lead to the formation of a new form of atheism, populated by those

  • who, for various reasons, would refuse to bow to any God, regardless of whether it had

  • been proven.

  • Over the course of history, various societies have worshiped physical beings as living deities

  • from the Egyptian pharaohs to pre-1945 Japanese Emperors.

  • But, even then, not everyone fell in line.

  • If God was fact, there'd still be those who defied it.

  • Nevertheless, the removal of God's transcendence would still constitute massive change.

  • The having of Faith is a vital part of most belief systems, but it has little place in

  • science.

  • By actualizing God, science would elevate humans to a similar level, potentially even

  • superseding thesupreme beingbefore long.

  • Knowledge is power, and there'd be no greater knowledge or power than this.

  • Finally, would people readily accept science's God as the endpoint of everything?

  • The question of "Who created God?" (orWho created the creator?”) has existed since

  • the days of Aristotle.

  • The argument says that a cause and effect chain can't be infinite, so something must

  • exist that causes but was not affected.

  • If you accept the idea, then that 'something' is God.

  • Modern science kicks against this train of thought, as there's nothing to suggest a

  • chain can't be unlimited.

  • But, if science suddenly found in favor of God, then the endpoint theory might also be

  • confirmed.

  • Whether or not it'd afford our lives with any more or less meaning, is another question

  • entirely.

  • But, that's what would happen if the existence of God was scientific fact.

  • What do you think?

  • Is there anything we missed?

  • Let us know in the comments, check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you

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What If the Existence of God Was Scientific Fact?

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