Die großen Fragen: Gibt es Gott? | Harald Lesch | Terra X

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Mars. One, Charly. We live in a world that has no space for God anymore. The Eagle has landed. We conquered the heavens long ago. We can create life. And even defy death. We have become our own makers. And now we worship new idols. What do we even need a God for anymore? Despite all of this, religion and spirituality are still pretty popular today. We can't seem to let go of the longing for a higher power. Who, faced with grief and suffering, has not quietly prayed: "Dear Lord, help me"? Even though nobody knows if God even exists. Or do they? As an astrophysicist, I'm often asked whether I've encountered God in my explorations of the vastness of space. If he exists, or if he at least could exist. How am I, an astronomer, meant to know this? Who says that God can even be found in the universe? I feel like Yuri Gagarin, the first human in outer space. When asked this question, he said, "I went up to space, but I didn't see God." Nobody can fully answer this question. But still, it has occupied us since the dawn of humanity. Science, too, has grappled with it. It might just be humanity's biggest question of all. THE BIG QUESTIONS DOES GOD EXIST? It's true. Looking into outer space can invoke spiritual feelings in the face of its vast dimensions. There are about 100 billion galaxies in the universe. One of these is our cosmic home, the Milky Way. This one single galaxy encompasses many billions of stars and solar systems. Our Earth orbits one of those stars. So far, it is the only planet we know of that has the right conditions to make life possible. I'm not surprised that people question how all this could be a mere coincidence. Is there more to it than meets the eye? For example, a Creator with a divine spirit? Having all possible circumstances required for the emergence of life come together at the same time is about as likely as this... Under the Earth's atmospheric conditions, could a pencil stay standing upright in the air? Theoretically, it's not impossible. But the airflow and the vibrations of the table would have to be extremely finely synced to keep the pencil balanced. It's our experience that tells us such a thing would never happen. But if there were a higher power, it would be more plausible. And there are ideas that say the same thing about the entire universe. In the beginning, there was darkness. That almost sounds biblical. Only with the Big Bang did all the elements that make up everything we see today materialize. And every star and planet that emerged after the Big Bang was neither a coincidence, nor random. Because the universe follows strict rules. The laws of nature. Like gravity, for example. It stops the planets from straying out of their orbits. But it's the so-called natural constants, unchangeable factors, that determine how the laws of nature behave in the same way across the whole universe. The natural constants, such as the gravitational constant, are like great mechanical parts that need to interlink to make the clock work. Essentially, these constants run the universe's engine room. If just one of these constants changed by a tiny fraction, the following would happen: It would slip out of sync. It would change completely... or disappear entirely. That's why many theologians and some physicists believe that the universe is too finely tuned to be a coincidental occurrence. There has to be a plan behind it all. And who made that plan? The cosmic Creator. The clockmaker of the universe. Does that solve the mystery? Is the finely-tuned filigree of our universe proof of God's existence? There are other explanations. What if our universe wasn't the only one? If there were an infinite number of parallel universes? That would have to mean one of these universes is affected by those exact natural constants we know, and that is the universe where we live. This is where it gets tricky. We could see the intricacy of the universe as an indication of God's existence, namely that he created the universe in this way so we could exist in it. But there are other points of view. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised the universe is the way it is, otherwise we couldn't exist in it at all. But miraculous phenomena can be both great and small. Take a look at those ants. Texas, 2017. Hurricane Harvey swept the nation at speeds exceeding 240 kph. More than 30,000 people lost their homes. But they were not the only ones. Red fire ants. Thousands of them can interlock to form living rafts. The colony can survive for weeks this way without a single ant getting hurt. Can we see God's ministry in this? Scientists at North Carolina State University wanted to find out how the ants do this. They reproduced the circumstances of the flood in a water basin. Time-lapse videos allowed them to observe exactly what happened. To determine the precise structure of the raft, the scientists needed to freeze the moment. They used liquid nitrogen. The analysis showed: What seemed like chaos was hiding a system where every ant had its place. Some of the ants formed a tight weave by hooking their limbs and mandibles together. They were the base of the raft. Others moved around on it freely, protecting the colony's larvae and helping where they were needed. Some believe the Creator himself must have instructed them to do this. How else would the ants know what each of them was meant to do? But this, too, has an explanation that doesn't require a God. Collective intelligence. This phenomenon can be observed all across the animal kingdom. For example, to counter attacks by hungry dolphins, sardines form gigantic swarms. They move as one single large body, confusing the enemy. Flocks of birds perform highly complicated aerial maneuvers without any two birds colliding. The secret behind these formations isn't God's work, but communication. Ants communicate using touch and sound. But above all, they use messenger chemicals. Glands in their backsides produce pheromones. Through these, they leave information for other ants and read the others' messages with their own antennae. Like where to find the best food. No single animal can understand all the goings-on. But by communicating with its peers, it receives the signals that tell it what job to do in the colony. A decentralized system. The result is a superorganism. And just like that, science has decoded many supposed miracles of nature. So, are we speaking about a "God of the gaps"? One who is only relevant where science hasn't yet found an explanation? Not necessarily. Because true miracles do exist... don't they? Luxembourg, September 9, 1986. For Jean Walté and his wife Anne, this day would prove fateful. Jean and Anne were badly hurt. Jean in particular had to live with the consequences for many years. My wife was in the back, which didn't have seatbelts in those days. So, my wife practically flew against my seat. JEAN WALTÉ, ACCIDENT VICTIM 1986, LUXEMBOURG And I was squeezed into the corner. My heel bone was fractured. I was in constant pain. I kept having to take stronger and stronger pain medication. The doctors couldn't really do anything. He stopped going out past our mailbox. ANNE WALTÉ, ACCIDENT VICTIM 1986, LUXEMBOURG So much pain. It was horrible. By his mid-30s, Jean was partially disabled, relied on mobility aids, and suffered from chronic pain. It stayed that way for 24 years. Then Anne convinced him to go on a trip. Their destination was a small town in the French Pyrenees. Lourdes. I thought I wouldn't be able to make it, as it was a long way to travel. I thought to myself, "Oh, I can't do this." But in the end, I agreed to go. And so I did go, thank God. The city hosts six million visitors a year, and the lights never go out. As well as many pilgrims, countless sick people come, hoping to be healed. Because the grotto at the foot of the basilica is home to a famous legend. It all began in the year 1858, when 14-year-old Bernadette was passing the grotto. Bernadette heard a rustling sound and saw a figure of light: A woman in white, who promptly disappeared. From then on, she appeared often and asked the girl to find a wellspring in the cave. As Bernadette's visions persisted, they sparked curiosity among locals. When a blind man washed his face in the wellspring, he found he could see again, as if by some miracle. Then a clergyman told Bernadette to ask the figure for her name. When the figure told her she was the Immaculate Conception, even the Church believed her, and had a basilica built above the grotto to honor the Virgin Mary. Ever since, the spring has attracted pilgrims from all over the world. All come hoping for a miracle of healing from its water. Jean and Anne Walté remember their first visit in 2010 very fondly. Back then, Jean was still in terrible pain. He was hesitant to join the holy ceremony in Lourdes' spring baths. But when he visited the grotto, he gained confidence, and had the courage to enter the baths. During the ceremony, Jean was submerged fully in the water, accompanied by prayers. You have to pray there. That's where it happened. I felt my foot loosen up and the pain was gone. For the first time in 24 years, Jean was suddenly no longer in pain. As if by some miracle. Was this God's work? Even the Church doesn't make it that easy. A medical committee goes over every case of potential miracle healing. Doctor Rolf Teiss is a surgeon and has been a member of the committee for 25 years. He is also in charge of Jean Walté's case. Teiss has been seeing him every year since the healing in 2010. The doctor thoroughly examines Jean's injured foot and tries to understand the healing process. What's special in this case is that the pain disappeared in an instant. And it hasn't returned since. We do not have a medical explanation for this. And we don't expect to find one. Since 1883, specialists from all branches of medicine have been discussing cases like this in the medical committee. For them, healing has to fulfill strict criteria to count as a miracle. It has to be spontaneous, exhaustive, and long-lasting. But ultimately, the Church has to decide if each individual case counts as a true miracle. Despite over 6,000 healings being reported in Lourdes since Bernadette's time, the Church has only granted miracle status to 70 of them. Jean Walté's case is not currently one of the 70. I didn't come to Lourdes to be healed. I never thought it would happen. Miracles? Seeing is believing. Or perhaps seeing is healing? However, the statistics on this are baffling. The number of healings in Lourdes in comparison to its total number of pilgrims is proportionally smaller than the world average for spontaneous healings. Astrophysicist Carl Sagan once took a swipe at the place, saying: "The rate of spontaneous remission at Lourdes seems to be lower than if the victims had just stayed at home." Alas, we humans are susceptible to believing in the inexplicable, in wondrous happenings, and in higher powers, no matter where we are in the world or which culture we come from. Might we even have a natural instinct to believe in God? In the 1980s, a machine was designed that could allegedly prove God was just a hallucination. A pure fantasy. Canadian neuroscientist Michael Persinger designed an apparatus that stimulated the brain's temporal lobes with electromagnetic fields. Using the "God helmet," as they started calling it, researchers managed to induce spiritual feelings in their subjects. The God helmet became famous, then was quickly debunked. Further experiments showed that the helmet induced these feelings even when it was switched off. But I still think there could be a connection between God and our brains. I've come to Munich to learn more. Persinger's hypothesis was exciting, but his methods weren't very good. What can today's neuroscientists tell us about God and religion? Buddhist monks are good subjects for investigation. During meditation, they can intentionally evoke a state in their brains that arouses spiritual, religious feelings. Scientists found out that the brain region in charge of spatial orientation is almost inactive during meditation. This could explain why religious experiences often involve a sense of boundaries blurring. It is not God influencing us, but our altered brain activity. Is God just a fantasy after all, then? I'm at the University Hospital of Munich to find out more. Neurologist Peter zu Eulenburg is going to light up my brain. It's my first ever MRI. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous. Wonderful. This way, please. Alright, there it is. -There it is. If you could have a seat here. The tube is tight. The tube is loud. -Yes. But nothing bad happens. -Good. Very soon, we'll see what happens where in my brain while I'm meditating. Luckily I have a little practice. My brain is also scanned in its relaxed, normal state, for comparison. During an MRI, the neurologist can track brain activity through the blood circulation. The search for the divine center of my brain begins. Are you ready to get started? OK. Meditating in that loud metal tube is a challenge. But it seems to be working out. My spirit starts wandering... As I lay there, I sink into a blueness. A deep blueness. I feel like I'm somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I'm diving deeper and deeper. Alright, he's done. Oh, man. What an experience. The moment of truth has arrived. For the first time, I can look inside my head. This is your brain. -Yes. The gray matter makes up 40%. 35% is white matter. That's a normal ratio. -Oh, good. Thank God. Harry is totally normal. The focus is on the periaqueductal gray, a region that colleagues have identified as a modulator of spiritual feelings. "Modulator of spiritual feelings." In other words, the center of my faith. And now we can take a look at the meditative state. This one is really striking. Clearly. I can't believe it. The colorful patches indicate where my meditating brain was particularly active. And it's true: My periaqueductal gray is practically bursting at the seams. I can't believe it. It's kind of spooky, watching yourself think. If there is an organ that's in charge of faith, it has to be the brain. -So, is God just a fantasy? PROF. PETER ZU EULENBURG NEUROLOGIST, LMU MUNICH No brain, no God. "No brain, no God." Does that mean God only exists as long as we're thinking about him? So, the region that is supposedly in charge of religious experiences... Is that an old part of the brain, or is it a more of a new development? No, it's an ancient region, which definitely existed in mammals and primates who came before us, too. -OK. Or, one could say, our brains have been oriented toward God from the very beginning. But why? Maybe our religious center developed the way it did so we could perceive God, the same way our eyes developed so we could perceive light. Does God exist because light exists? One thing's for certain: Ever since human culture emerged, we have engaged with religious questions. The oldest artifacts are from the last ice age and are tens of thousands of years old. Next to depictions of wild animals, there are paintings of fantastical hybrid creatures. Half animal, half human. Many in the field think that these creatures were believed to have supernatural powers. So, the capacity for faith has been with us since ancient times. Is this proof of God's existence? An archeological find in southeast Turkey sheds a different light on the beginnings of faith. Göbleki Tepe, or "Potbelly Hill." This is the site of the oldest known monumental structures, built more than 11,000 years ago. But what was its purpose? Archeologist Lee Clare, who is leading the excavation, is asking the same question. The massive stone pillars in particular contain clues. There are hands engraved on their surfaces. And the stones placed crossways resemble heads. These T-pillars are all unique, which suggests they depict specific figures. DR. LEE CLARE ARCHEOLOGIST These individual ones look inward, toward the central pillars. And what we have here is a meeting of the ancestors, or maybe even early Gods. That would mean Göbekli Tepe was a primarily spiritual site from the times of hunting and gathering. A reconstruction shows that the effort to build such a site without the help of technology must have been monumental. All this, just to gather together, perform rituals, and honor the ancestors. Proof of how important this site must have been to the people can be found with the newest discoveries that Lee Clare and his team have made very close to the monumental structure. Remains of fireplaces, mortars, and storage vessels indicate that people settled here. That makes Göbekli Tepe part of a development considered the key turning point in the history of civilization. The Neolithic revolution. About 13,000 years ago, humans started growing plants, domesticating animals, and building settlements. Oddly, the area around Göblekli Tepe is very poorly-suited to settlements. It's a sparse mountain region with little rainfall and no rivers nearby. Deep holes in the surrounding area show how difficult it must have been to find enough water here. These are cisterns, clearly made by humans. Early settlers drove these into the rock in order to live near their monument. And so, the village church was born. Lee Clare is convinced that Göbelki Tepe was not unique, but a part of something bigger. It's fair to assume that there were satellite settlements all around, which had a connection to Göbekli Tepe. It was part of a network that was very large. TURKEY SYRIA Within about 200 kilometers of the site, archeologists have found several other settlements from the same period that strongly resemble Göbekli Tepe. More circular stone structures with T-shaped, anthropomorphic pillars. Two things seem to have developed side by side in this region. Sedentism and the establishment of a shared culture, connected by a shared belief in shared Gods. This belief may have motivated people to build settlements in order to dwell longer at these sites. So, faith as a foundation of high civilization. Religion as community advantage. History seems to confirm this. Faith is a central part of every complex society. A love of God drives people from diverse cultures to go to dizzying heights. Many of the world's biggest and most beautiful buildings were erected to honor the Gods. Spirituality generates community, stability, and continuity. Faith touches every aspect of life. Holidays, art, education, and conflicts, too, are defined by it. But most of all, faith provides support and hope, a moral guideline from the cradle to the grave. In our cultural region, faith in a benevolent God has come out on top. A God of love. Isn't that incredible? If you think about it, faith in a loving God is strange, considering the past and present global catastrophes. If God exists, how can he allow all the misery in the world? This is a big problem that makes many people doubt God's existence. We've all known doubt. When we get sick. When we're afraid. Or when we lose someone. Again and again, nature runs its course, spreading catastrophe and misfortune over the world. How could a loving God allow these things to happen? God and the evil and suffering in the world are a huge stumbling block for faith. But there is a rational explanation. Because if God created humans as beings with free will, nature simply has to have laws, so we can predict the consequences of our actions. So, God allowed suffering so humanity can make decisions for good and against evil. Following that logic, suffering is the price we must pay in order to feel secure in the world and the laws of nature. I know it's not easy to understand. Many people felt that way, so they searched for proof of God. The first to do it was Anselm of Canterbury. In France in the 12th Century, the man who later became Archbishop of Canterbury was living in the Abbey of Bec in Normandy. This is where Anselm came up with a theory that aimed to bring faith and reason together in harmony. Anselm believed that we are creatures of reason, and so we should be able to recognize God through reason. Human reason is therefore a mirror for God. He defined God as "a being than which none greater can be conceived." No person can imagine a greater being than God. Otherwise God would not be absolute. Anselm's argument goes even further. For him, this absolute being must also exist in reality, because a real God is greater than an imaginary one. That is where Anselm found his proof. If God is the being than which none greater, and none more absolute can be conceived, then he has to exist. Well? Are you convinced? Anselm's argument is one of the most important theodicies in history. Many philosophers followed his example. Thomas Aquinas, René Descartes... Immanuel Kant, however, thought the whole thing was a silly trick. "Existence is not a predicate of objects," he said. There's a difference between ten imagined coins and ten real coins. Just because I can imagine something, doesn't mean it exists. Before Kant, another philosopher tried to solve the God question with reason, opting for a very different approach. His name was Blaise Pascal. One of the most important mathematicians and rationalists of the 17th century, Pascal wrote a still-prevailing treatise on geometry at 16 and invented one of the first calculators. To him, God was an existential question, which he compared to a bet. He came to a surprising conclusion. One could compare Pascal's wager to a special game of roulette. In this game, red stands for God existing, and black for God not existing. If I bet everything on red, meaning I believe God exists, and then he really does exist, red wins, then I win everything. I go to heaven and not hell. Wonderful. If black wins, however... I believe in God, but he doesn't exist, nothing happens to me. I lose nothing, because hell does not exist. It's a pretty clever calculation from Pascal, a great logicist. So, he concluded that it was smart to believe in God, just in case. That's not really proof, though. But in 2013, it supposedly materialized: real proof of the existence of God. "Mathematicians confirm proof of God." "Is God Real? Scientists 'Prove' His Existence With Gödel's Theory and MacBooks." "Computer Scientists Prove God Exists." This definite proof was supposedly achieved using computers. Computer scientist Christoph Benzmüller was the man behind it all. He stumbled across an old proof of God by accident in 2012. It was written in the language of mathematical logic. It's polarizing, it invites dissent, just as it invites approval. It's particularly exciting, because it sparks a reaction in everyone. A being is Godly if it has all of the positive qualities. This proof of God came from the mind of mathematician Kurt Gödel, one of the most important logicians of all time. He was born in Austria in 1906 and studied physics in Vienna, but had a keen interest in philosophy and logic as well. The "science of deductively valid inferences" was shaken up quite a bit in the 20th century. Instead of using words, logical arguments began to be expressed in the language of mathematics. Kurt Gödel was considered a genius in this field from a young age. In 1940, he was invited to the famous Princeton University, where he befriended Albert Einstein. Einstein believed in a Creator. Maybe this was what motivated Gödel to test God's existence using the strict rules of logic. All the previous attempts at proof had simply focused on whether God's existence was true or false. TRUE FALSE But that wasn't enough for Gödel. He utilized a logic in which God could also be possible, or even necessary. NECESSARY POSSIBLE This framework enables closer analysis of the arguments. In this sense, the argument "circles are round" is not only true, but also possible and necessary. The argument "humans are green" is false, but it is possible. It is not, however, necessary. How does this prove God's existence? The details are complicated, but at the end of the process, Gödel calculated: The argument "God exists" is not only possible, but also necessary and therefore, true. About 30 years later, Christoph Benzmüller found Gödel's formal argument. It was so complex that nobody had been able to check if there were any mistakes in it. However, with the help of a computer, it could be checked. But in order for the computer to be able to read Gödel's formulas, Benzmüller had to pick them apart. This says: "God exists," formulated in the language of logic. Benzmüller spent months working on a computer program that could check the congruity of Gödel's argument. The moment of truth. The computer needed less than a minute to conclude: Gödel's argument is free of contradictions. But does this really mean that God exists? For me, it doesn't prove God's real existence yet. It only proves non-contradictory abstract theories about God are possible. PROF. CHRISTOPH BENZMÜLLER COMPUTER SCIENTIST, BAMBERG UNIVERSITY Even though Gödel's logic is coherent, it cannot prove God's existence. Because Gödel, too, based his work on concepts that have not been proven themselves. Natural sciences cannot prove God's existence, as they are based on the laws of nature. But God does not adhere to these laws. God is, by definition, not of this world. Which is why faith and science are not contradictory. They can exist side by side. The greatest scientists, from Isaac Newton to Albert Einstein, were open about their faith, even though God's existence is not proven. It seems even the most rational of tools can't help us solve the question of God. But modern theology uses modern science to further the understanding of nature and God. But the million-dollar question, "How do you feel about God? Or religion?" is a question of individual choice. We get to decide to live as if God does exist, or as if he doesn't. But the consequences of this choice could be huge. Protecting God's creation is an enormous challenge. The religious approach seems far more powerful than saying the whole thing is just a random fluctuation of vacuum energy, without actually deciding whether God exists or not. Anyway, I know what I think. I haven't given too much away, have I? They just let me go on and on...

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Keywords: terra x lesch & co., terra x, harald lesch, ZDF, Terra X, Lesch, Astrophysik, Physik, Naturwissenschaft, gott, Lourdes, Wunderheilung, Gottesnachweis, Gottesbeweis, Thomas von Aquin

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Length: 44min 2sec (2642 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 19 2023