I think the concept of emergence is something religious people have a tough time understanding. [View all]

[Humanist_Activist]

First let me explain, emergence is a concept of complexity derived from simplicity. This is very basic, but a few simple rules can exist and as a result, something as complex as a human being can be derived from those simple rules. At its very core, we humans are simply the rules of chemistry applied through homeostasis in cellular structures. This applies to all of biology, and the results are astounding, but still explainable through chemistry(bio-chemistry to be more exact).

This applies to all areas of science, from physics to behavioral sciences, an ant colony is surprisingly complex in its overall behavior, but a single ant is simple by comparison, only following a few pheromone clues and repeated behaviors through instinct. Yet there is no guiding intelligence that is creating this complexity, rather its the ants, working together, and following these clues, that leads to structure and an illusion of design, as Richard Dawkins would put it.

What applies to ants also applies to single cells, working together to build an organism, or to atoms, organized to build a rock. And these, following the rules we discovered through physics, chemistry, biology, etc. leads to the emergence of stars, planets, and life. The rules that exist are very basic, the 4 forces of the universe are basically it, and the constants that follow them.

So where, in all this emergent complexity does a god fit in? I would say in a very small space, if one is necessary at all, at most, and this is being very generous, we can say that a god could have put the forces there, but then again, given the cutting edge in physics, such a being wouldn't have had a choice at all. Space-time, the 4 forces, and the constants that follow them may be a natural by product of the Big Bang, and were inevitable, as an emergent phenomenon themselves.

The existence of a god, therefore, would be similar to a spanner in the works of the universe, rather than a help, a hindrance, by its own definition, such a being would have to violate these simple rules, itself an exception to the universe itself.