COSMOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF RELIGION AND SCIENCE

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The intention of this article is to make a comparative analysis of how Religion and science conceive the universe. Both religion and science have made a lot of speculations and extrapolations concerning the nature, origin, evolution, structure, and eventual fate of the universe. In their arguments, there are a number of convergent and divergent views on this subject. Based on this, the research’s findings are that proponents of religion argue that the universe came into existence out of nothing by a Supreme Being Who Himself is the uncaused or self-existent Being. In contrast, some Scientists contend that no Supreme Being is responsible for the coming into being of the universe. Their suggestion is that the world emerged through the mechanism of the Big Bang or Steady State theory model of the universe. The Greek theorize that matter is eternal and uncreated. If at all God created the universe, He created it not out of nothing but through the pre-existing matter. What is common between the two rivals is that both religious and some scientists believe that the universe has a finite beginning. Both also conclude that the universe would one day come to an end through Big Crunch for scientists but end time or eschatology for Christian religions. Interestingly, what Cosmologists and Astronomers call Black Hole is what Christian religion call Bottomless pit. The paper’s submission is that the universe is caused and governed by God and He is responsible for the operations of all the natural laws. The paper employs analytic and hermeneutic methods.