Science PROVES There Is So a God! So There!

By Ed Buckner | 11 July 2025
Letters to a Free Country

(Credit: YouTube / screengrab)

This is a Friday Freethought Perennial (FFP), and sort of one I have previously addressed. I have, generally, written most of my Friday Letters on the subject of one or another FFP, but I’ve addressed all of them I can think of. (Send me one I haven’t answered and I’ll turn to.)

Wanna Change My Mind?

Let me start with an important point for any who’re interested in changing my mind about my atheism—in getting me, in whatever sense, to believe. My basic atheistic claim is not that I can prove there’s no god, but that I am unconvinced. Show me evidence or an argument that I find persuasive, and I’ll become a believer. Show me some evidence or logic that I haven’t seen or heard before, and it might take me some time to consider, but I’ll invest the time—and I’m open, I solemnly affirm, to actually changing my mind.

On Science “Proving” God

This one really isn’t new to me, but I haven’t seen it or a version of it in a while:

“Caleb DG” (that’s all I know of him) says (and I appreciate his non-insulting, open to argument approach):

Here’s Why Science itself Presupposes the Existence of God:

– Premise 1: Science works because nature follows consistent, lawful patterns.

– Premise 2: Those unchanging rules—like math and physics—require a rational source beyond the physical world.

– Premise 3: The best explanation for that immaterial source is a conscious, rational mind, not blind matter.

– Premise 4: A conscious, rational, immaterial Mind that grounds reality is what we mean by “God.”

– Conclusion: Science itself only works if God exists.

Atheists fail to grasp that science hinges on the expectation that tomorrow’s experiments will mirror today’s, which is an expectation no blind chance can justify. And to insist that “2 + 2 = 4” sprang from random collisions is intellectual bankruptcy; only a conscious, divine Lawgiver can ground such immutable truths.

Let me clarify: I am not a scientist or a mathematician. I’ve never been trained or read deeply or experimented as a biologist, a physicist, etc. I’ve had some training and academic experience in practical applied science and mathematics—namely in social science research and applied statistics.

Laws and Lawgivers

“Caleb” is giving us a variation on an old idea: there can be no law without a Lawgiver. But this confuses (possibly not intentionally) two different senses of “law”—1. that of a rule or commandment that some authority is urging or ordering others to follow, and 2. that of an observed regularity. The first if real can be supernatural, as in “God” giving Moses the “Ten Commandments”—or merely human, as the Georgia legislature declaring that murdering someone for fun isn’t on.

The second sense—that of observed consistency—is what is generally meant in science. The “law of gravity” is merely a pattern observed—

Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation states that every particle attracts every other particle in the universe with force directly proportional to the product of the masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

You needn’t be a physics expert to grasp why that matters or to realize that the bit about accelerating at 32 feet per second per second as a body (not mine, please) hurls towards Earth matters. But this wasn’t something Isaac Newton commanded of gravity—it was something he observed. And not really from getting hit on the head while sitting under an apple tree, either.

Caleb’s first premise is reasonable enough—but his second premise is nonsense, and the premises that he lists after #2 don’t follow if that one isn’t true. “Those unchanging rules—like math and physics—require a rational source beyond the physical world.” Nope—the “laws” involved are found in reality and observed and measured and used to predict by smart people to allow us human beings to better control reality. No being, rational or irrational is needed to “command” the laws—just wise observer(s).

Tornados and Auto Junkyards

It’s akin to the claim that evolutionary theory fails because “a tornado can’t produce a 747 by blowing through an auto junkyard.” The problem for the creationist claiming this as an “obvious truth” is that no one is asserting that a tornado can do that or even that changes as observed by Charles Darwin, Massimo Pigliucci, et al., are made in any particular direction or with any particular life form—not even me or you—as the intended outcome. Stuff happens—and good biologists observe what does and build an ability to explain and predict out of the laws observed.

Dinosaur Fossils

Another “proof” that science allegedly provides theists—

A majority of dinosaur fossils discovered globally exhibit a contorted position. Archaeologists refer to this phenomenon as the ‘dinosaur death pose, but have yet to provide a definitive explanation. Similarly, animals that have drowned in water are often found in the same unusual contorted position due to violently gasping for air. The unnatural body position of these dinosaur fossils suggests a violent death, rather than a peaceful one. The absence of bite and claw marks and fully intact fossils indicate that death was not a result from an attack by a predator.

Furthermore, marine fossils are consistently discovered alongside dinosaur fossils!! The only plausible explanation for the unusual death pose and marine fossils is that these dinosaurs drowned during a global flood. According to Genesis 7:21-23, all living land animals died during a great flood. This included birds, livestock, wild animals, and all other creatures that lived on dry land.

Answered admirably by Peter Veitch on Facebook—

Peter Veitch

Ah, the desperate grasp of theology at the coattails of science—once again trying to drag the Enlightenment back into the murky swamp of myth and superstition.

This image offers a perfect example of what happens when one begins not with evidence, but with a preordained conclusion—namely, that the story of Noah’s Flood must be true—and then rifles through science like a drunk ransacking a library, cherry-picking half-understood terms to support that fantasy.

Let us begin with the so-called “dinosaur death pose.” This is a well-documented phenomenon in paleontology known as the opisthotonic posture—a result of postmortem muscle contractions, particularly the drying and tightening of neck and tail tendons, or central nervous system damage at death. It has been observed not only in dinosaurs but also in birds and mammals under specific circumstances. But rather than consult peer-reviewed biology or taphonomy, the author leaps to the pages of Genesis, as though Bronze Age mythology might provide more insight than modern science.

We are told that the contorted positions “must” be from drowning. Why? Because it suits the flood narrative. Never mind that some of these fossils are found in deserts. Never mind that fossilization requires rapid burial under sediment—something that can occur in lakes, floods, volcanic ash, or sand dunes—not necessarily a globe-drowning deluge dreamed up by ancient sheepherders. This is theological confirmation bias in full display: the evidence does not guide the belief—the belief demands the evidence. . . .

It went on at greater length. And impressed me.

But according to Peter Veitch, when I asked him for permission to use his words in this Letter,

Ed Buckner my post was chatgpt using prompt “do a savage critique of the following using a Christopher Hitchens style ,” I then read and approved / agreed.

And, later, in response to someone else, he wrote—

Certainly. Here’s a revised version of the Hitchens-style critique, retaining its biting tone but reinforced with scholarly references and empirical data. This version not only dismantles the pseudoscientific claims but shows where the real science lies—cited and sourced.

—

“Rapid Fossilization: Strong Evidence for a Global Flood” — A Scholarly Autopsy of Anti-Science in Biblical Costume

To propose that the global fossil record is best explained by a mythical worldwide flood—complete with an ark and zoological logistics that would make modern biologists weep—is not just intellectually bankrupt; it is a brazen act of war against geology, biology, paleontology, and reason itself. Let us not mince words: what’s being presented here is theological folklore in a lab coat, a desperate attempt to retrofit Iron Age mythology onto the bedrock of modern science.

Let us begin with the core claim: that modern sedimentation rates are too slow to account for the fossil record, and thus the only plausible explanation is a singular, cataclysmic, divinely-induced event. This is textbook uniformitarian denialism, and it’s been debunked for over a century. While it is true that average sedimentation rates today range from millimeters to centimeters per year in many environments (Schumm, 1977), this in no way implies that all sediments form at these rates, nor that they always have. Rapid burial events—such as those from turbidity currents, debris flows, volcanic ash deposits, or storm-induced surges—are well-documented in the stratigraphic record (Bouma, 1962; Allen, 1984).

This leads us to the tired parade of polystrate fossils. These vertical fossils—usually trees—are routinely found in settings like swamp deltas or volcanic deposits, where rapid sedimentation can occur episodically (Gastaldo, 1996). Their existence is not a threat to mainstream geology; it is an expected result of localized, rapid deposition over time—not instantaneous burial of every life form on Earth by a cosmic tantrum.

The claim that fish have been fossilized “mid-meal” and that this suggests global catastrophe is equally absurd. Such fossils, like those in the Yixian Formation in China, are preserved by anoxic lake environments and volcanic ash falls—not divine wrath (Zhou & Zhang, 2006). These rare moments of exquisite preservation are consistent with known paleoenvironments and sedimentology—not global floods.

As for the argument about marine fossils on mountaintops: welcome to plate tectonics, discovered decades ago and supported by mountains of data (pun fully intended). The presence of marine fossils in the Himalayas or the Alps is not mysterious—it’s the inevitable result of orogenic uplift as oceanic crust is subducted and continents collide (Dewey & Bird, 1970). But the author prefers to attribute this to a magical global flood, unaware that doing so would require sea levels higher than Mount Everest while still allowing for animal survival on an ark.

The reference to “fossil graveyards” also collapses under scrutiny. Sites like the Karoo Basin or the Green River Formation show distinct sedimentary facies, varied taphonomic processes, and biotic succession over millions of years—not a single flood layer (Smith et al., 1993; Grande, 1984). These beds preserve seasonal varves, volcanic ash layers, and ecological transitions wholly inconsistent with a one-time global deluge.

Now, the pièce de résistance: the claim that all this evidence somehow supports the historical reliability of the Book of Genesis. This is not science. This is hermeneutics by hallucination. There is no peer-reviewed geology, paleontology, or sedimentology that validates the Noachian flood as a global event. Not one credible scientific institution supports it—not the USGS, not the GSA, not the Royal Society.

Moreover, the supposed correlation between the fossil record and biblical chronology is risible. The geologic column is constructed through radiometric dating, biostratigraphy, paleomagnetic reversals, and isotope stratigraphy—each independently confirming Earth’s vast antiquity, stretching back 4.5 billion years (Dalrymple, 1991; Gradstein et al., 2020).

To summarize: what is offered here is not a scientific hypothesis—it is a theological fairytale clad in the language of sediment. It dismisses centuries of empirical research, ignores the explanatory power of modern geology, and substitutes complex, testable mechanisms with the simplistic assertion, “The Bible says so.” That is not science; it is intellectual cowardice dressed as piety.

If the intent was to demonstrate that scientific illiteracy can be weaponized in defense of doctrine, then mission accomplished. But if we care about the truth—as it exists in the rock, in the fossil, in the isotopic whisper of deep time—then we must reject this nonsense wholesale. The fossil record does not cry out for Noah. It sings, instead, of deep oceans, drifting continents, extinction, evolution, and time—immense, indifferent, and magnificent.

In short, it’s not at all difficult to counter the alleged proofs of divine forces by examining science and the observations of scientists.

It doesn’t even require advanced science or mathematics—just some straightforward, rational good sense.

Ed Buckner is an American atheist activist who served as president of the organization American Atheists from 2008 to 2010. He served as executive director for the Council for Secular Humanism from 2001 to 2003 and was once the Council’s southern director. He is the author (with Michael E. Buckner) of In Freedom We Trust: An Atheist Guide to Religious Liberty (Prometheus Books, 2012).

Harmonic Atheist – Interview with Dr. Ed Buckner

The Case Against Christianity (Keith Parsons)

Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell (1927)

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