Brendan Jones – 3/26/06

This page was last updated on March 26, 2006.

Don’t ignore reality; Brendan Jones; Beaver County Times; March 26, 2006.

The following is not intended to be a defense of the existence of God. That’s for someone a lot wiser than I. This critique’s purpose is to show Mr. Jones’ letter is based on an erroneous presentation of the facts.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“James Irwin’s letter to the editor (‘How did it all get started,’ Wednesday) on the beginning of the universes does a disservice to readers.”

[RWC] How is expressing a belief in God “a disservice to readers?”

“Aside from the multiple logical flaws in arriving at the conclusion, the argument itself doesn’t hold much water and presents no new hypothesis that all the other religions haven’t already proposed. (A deity did it).”

[RWC] Based on this and his previous letter, Mr. Jones probably shouldn’t talk about “multiple logical flaws.” Misstating the facts appears to be one of Mr. Jones’ tactics.

“A smoking gun doesn’t imply a shooter. Matter appears spontaneously in the universe, governed by the familiar equation, E=mc², with no initial cause.”

[RWC] Mr. Jones wants us to believe matter can magically appear from nothing. Where did Mr. Jones learn his science?

The First Law of Thermodynamics – also known as the Law of Conservation – states that energy/mass can neither be created nor destroyed. Indeed, that’s pretty much what Einstein’s special theory of relativity (E=mc²) says. In other words, mass can be converted to energy and vice versa, but neither energy nor mass can be created from nothingness.

It’s not surprising Mr. Jones would make his claim because it allows him to avoid the question to which no one knows the answer: From where did the first spec of energy/mass come from?

“These particles are created and destroyed in a near infinitesimal quantity each second, with no supernatural reason, it is a product of reality, and was confirmed 61 years ago with the Manhattan Project.”

[RWC] Contrary to Mr. Jones’ assertion, the U.S. atomic bomb project did not prove energy/mass could be created from nothingness.

“The appeal to ignorance is used as the main objection because the mathematics and models to determine the properties and behavior of the early universe are complicated, and not fully merged, so that must mean God did it.”

[RWC] Given the factual flaws in this letter, Mr. Jones probably shouldn’t talk about the ignorance of others.

“The things that God used to do, because we had no other explanation, included weather, sun/planetary movements, disease, fertility, et cetera. We have steadily rolled back our ignorance of reality. With each passing year, the mysteries of reality fade, and so too does the need for supernatural explanations.”

[RWC] Mr. Jones still hasn’t told us from where the first spec of energy/mass came.