Return of the God Hypothesis: Breakthroughs in Physics, Cosmology, and Biology Seeking Evidence for the Existence of God

by Stephen C. Meyer

FIGURE 11.3 Philosophers recognize several main worldviews with different answers to the “prime reality” question. Theism affirms a personal, intelligent, transcendent God who also acts within the creation. Deism asserts a personal, transcendent, intelligent God who does not act within the created order after its initial origin. Naturalism (or materialism) affirms matter and energy and the laws of nature as the prime realities. Pantheism asserts an impersonal deity present in matter and energy as the prime reality. In these diagrams portraying these four great systems of thought, the circles represent the physical universe, the drawings inside the circle depict various living and nonliving entities within the universe, the pendulum represents the laws of nature, and “the big G” represents God. Notice that in Theism, God is depicted as separate from but also active in the universe; in Deism, God is depicted as separate from but not active in the universe; in Naturalism or Materialism, God is portrayed as nonexistent, and in Pantheism, God is shown as present in, or “co-extensive” with, every aspect of the material universe but not existing in any way separate from it.