Twelve Theses on the Relation of Science and Faith

Thesis 1:
If talking of God, it must be related with human experience in some way. God as a hypothesis to explain phenomena in science cannot be proven and is unnecessary. The notion “God” does not appear in today’s scientific literature on the universe.

Thesis 2:
A person who experiences God is participating in the perception and is affected by it. God cannot be experienced without being involved. Moses perceived God as addressing him, saying „I am what I will be.“ It moved Moses to lead his people out of Egypt (Ex. 3,14).

Thesis 3:
Augustine (354 - 430) warned: „If you understand, it is not God.“ That holds for any conception of God, for believers and for fundamentalists, as well as for atheists.

Thesis 4:
The universe did not form in the Big Bang, but is the result of a development that took place of 13.8 billion years and continues today.

Thesis 5:
The development of the universe is unfathomably complex although the fundamental physical laws are known. The "map of knowledge" has more white spots today than before. Ignorance has grown faster than knowledge. Science cannot fathomreality.

Thesis 6:
Objects form, develop, and decay. All that has formed will decay. Living beings and celestial bodies are alike in this respect.

Thesis 7:
The far future of the universe cannot be predicted scientifically. The future is open at least within the frame given by the elementary conservation laws.

Thesis 8:
Fundamentally new structures form even today. This creativity is a most fascinating property of the universe.

Thesis 9:
Divine Creation cannot be an explanation of scientific results, but one of several interpretations. It is not compelling, but adequate to interpret the creativity of the universe.

Thesis 10:
The interpretation by Creation is only reasonable if it is based on participatory perceptions, such as amazement or frightening, transcendental or mystic experiences. Divine Creation cannot be reduced to the Big Bang. The Creation interpretation does not follow directly from science. The primary perception of Creation is the gift experience of ourown life.

Thesis 11:
We experience the universe as a Creation only when we perceive, stunned, that the vital things in life are given to us (after Hans Weder).

Thesis 12:
To believe in Creation means to trust in Creation and is oriented toward the future, not the past. To trust in Creation means to know that the universe is in good hands.