THE HUBRIS OF NATURALISM

In the opening statement of HIS debate, atheist Sean Carroll commented that naturalism is a proven fact. Naturalism is the belief that everything is caused by natural laws whose source and support are neither designed or intelligently conceived. Instead, they just ARE!

To support this, Carroll claimed that science has found nothing that validates the existence of anything that lies outside of the purview of science.

Of course, this claim is ridiculous. It is like saying that nothing exists beyond what I can see. This is not to deny the value of sight or of science. However, it is a recognition of the fact that, as there is no evidence that existence is limited to what can be seen, there is also no evidence that existence is limited to what science can detect.

Nevertheless, Carroll offers the mind-brain distinction that Christians use. We claim that the physical brain is like a TV. It can receive a non-material message or program from beyond itself but is distinct from the message.

Is it possible that the material brain is also distinct from the non-material mind? Why not? However, Carroll denies this possibility. Why? Simply because no one can explain the mechanics of the interplay between the two!

However, their existence is not the same as understanding their interplay. While we admittedly are at a loss to explain this interplay, there are also many other things we cannot explain – the activity of sub-atomic particles, the nature of light, time, matter and space and the origin of life – this fact shouldn’t disqualify the mind-brain distinction, no more than it should disqualify science.

It is even paradoxical that Carroll should demand such a thing. He already acknowledges that science and observation cannot the directly detect the presence of spiritual realities, yet he disingenuously demands that we must prove the spiritual with these tools alone.

Nevertheless, against Carroll’s confident assertion, there are many indications that materialism cannot explain all of the facts within its domain – freewill, consciousness, the inability of neuro-scientists to stimulate an assortment of cognitive responses, NDRs, an overwhelming array of reported spiritistic experiences, and even the origin of the “natural” laws and the fine-tuning of the universe.

What makes Carroll’s assertion even more questionable is the lack of evidence that ANYTHING has ever been caused naturally without intelligence and design.

Instead, Carroll needs to be pressed for any scientific evidence that “natural” laws even exist. Perhaps, instead, they proceed out of the Mind of God.