Larry Legend. I thought this design jabbing at atheists could be a fun little jump off point for a closer look at a personal topic of interest, "Can science and faith coexist?" But before we "get weird," let's acknowledge the greatness of Larry David for a moment and have a quick watch of this scene from his show. While "Curb" is packed with Jewish topics and references, this scene arguing with another Jew over anti semitic German composer Richard Wagner is cry out loud funny. It's "pretty, pretty, pretty good!".
And before going full nerd mode, here's a really insightful take on the intersection of faith in HaShem and Jewish comedy, check out this article from myjewishlearning.com.
'Cause I Gotta Have Faith. So... atheism. It's actually really tough to debate a topic when it is essentially arguing faith. With the answer unknowable both positions are based in faith. But let's dig a little deeper — what can we actually observe on the big question, is there a creator? Here's a hook, whatever your position, studies consistently show people of faith report greater happiness, deeper life satisfaction, and stronger community bonds. That alone might make the question worth a few minutes of your time, don't you think?
A Guide for the Perplexed. One path I've gone down when contemplating the divine is to actually look to science to steel my faith in the man upstairs. Personally I fall into the camp of the Rabbinic thought of Rambam, that of a rationalist. A rationalist believes that reason, logic, and the laws of nature are the primary tools we have to understand absolute divine truth. With the advancement in knowledge we have now, compared to the 12th century, this approach becomes even more relevant.
You're So Fine... Tuned. Certain things in science are just so extraordinary, with the probability of occurring so infinitesimal, it becomes rationally harder to believe things happened by chance. An example of this would be "The Fine-Tuning" argument. This states the case for an intelligent creator based on the fact that fundamental laws and constants of physics are perfectly calibrated to allow for the existence of life. The tiniest change in countless variables and whole structure would collapse. Another angle you can take is the Teleological Argument. Put simply, this doctrine states upon observation, you can conclude that design and purpose are part of nature.
This next video is from a great podcast called, "From Physics to God". This podcast is a series of lectures from two Rabbis, both with academic backgrounds in science. One with a PhD in Mathematics and the other in physics. The Rabbi's pose the question, can physics prove the existence of a creator.
Beyond Improbable. This last video is from Oxford University and is a "simple" animated explanation of how cell replication works. I include this here because thinking about the trillions of molecular machines in your body doing these complex tasks is utterly mind blowing. When you contemplate a lifeless universe of base elements turning into purposeful organic coding, replicating and even repairing super complex DNA, well.... I put it this way, I don't purport to understand what God is, but whatever created that process, well there's evidence of God's fingerprint. Make sense? Yeah, me neither... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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