"Proving God" on the History Channel

"Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves."  -Bl. John Paul the Great

"Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves."  -Bl. John Paul the Great 

The History Channel recently aired a special, just before Christmas ('tis the season), entitled Proving God.  Here’s the description from History Channel:

"Proving God For centuries, science and faith have been polarized on some of the most fundamental questions in the universe, sometimes with deadly consequences. But as mankind seeks to answer the ultimate question--whether God exists--religion and science have joined in an unlikely alliance. Can new scientific discoveries and digital age technology reveal tangible proof of God? From the far reaches of the cosmos to the inner working of the human mind, scientists and believers around the world are using science to open new frontiers in this ultimate quest."

Monsignor Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître

The special starts off by talking about the relationship between faith and reason, exacerbating the violent opposition that has always existed between the two.  Focusing solely on the Catholic Church, the presupposition that the Church has always been dead against science and basic reason.  We then move onto Copernicus (a Catholic priest), the conceiver of the heliocentric theory of the universe.  The Galileo controversy which has always been extremely overplayed and just as easily dismissed as the Church's ignorance of science (For a more accurate description of the Galileo/Church Affair please visit http://www.catholic.com/tracts/the-galileo-controversy).  We then move onto the Big Bang theory of the universe (also conceived of by a Catholic priest, Monsignor Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître, although this is also not mentioned) and how this in some way explains for existence with no need for a God.  The program paints the Church as an institute that has always been against reason and science, but only in very recent times has decided to make a 180 turn in its stance.  


What surprised me most though was not the sadly usual jump over the actual history of these issues by the History Channel (the network that also hosts Ancient Aliens, UFO Hunters and my personal favorite Swamp Hunters) but the manner by which the logic of the show followed.  The program sets out that it will, through modern science, prove/disprove empirically the existence of God.  In the language of the show itself, to quantitatively show God and find Him. This philosophy sadly leads to nowhere.  In saying that everything (God included) can be proven/disproven scientifically is in itself not scientifically verifiable therefore it is invalid.  The sciences rest on the faith of scientists that the empirical world is to our limited ability, intelligible.  It rests on the preconceived notion that the universe is ordered and based on laws that are to some small degree measurable by our intellect.


The program shows the natural tendency of man, constantly trying to reduce God to something among things rather then the Transcendent force through which all things exist.  It is the futile attempt to find God and neatly put Him in a box.  The episode ended with scientists trying to find the God particle and from the God particle be able to create the theory of everything.  While science is a great progress of man in so many regards I can hardly imagine anything more laughable then the idea that a finite being (i.e. man) can somehow comprehend all of existence and indeed the Infinite.


Science should indeed grow as much as it can in order to authentically grasp the truth, however it cannot do this when sacrificing reason.