Is dark matter God?

No!

Sorry if that sounded like a put-down. But you don't need to search for God in outer space.

God would have created the scaffolding, wouldn't he?
I don't think he's going to be exposed like the Wizard of Oz!

God has already been found or at least He has been revealing Himself to mankind for thousands of years. Science can't do it.

Hi Greenfinch - reading some of your posts I think we are like minded Grans. We also both have birds' names

However I think science may be able to find God because God gave us minds that could make the Hadron Collider.

The Hadron Collider is a bit of a worry though. I hope it doesn't blow us all up.

Seems unlikely in the extreme. Blowing us all up also seems unlikely in the extreme.

I have been asking my scientific OH to describe the hadron collider, as the news bulletins leave me still puzzled. They talk of sending particles hurtling around at speed, but don't tell you where to get the particles in the first place - can you order them on amazon I wondered! Apparently they are artificially generated and you can indeed order them from those who generate them - how amazing!

These amazing scientists are certainly searching for some profound and important facts that will hopefully enhance our understanding of the universe; and inevitably that will have a bearing on our understanding of religion.

To be honest Greenfinch I do not feel that god has been revealing himself (herself?) to us at all - in fact he/she/it appears to have gone out of their way to be as obscure as possible - hence so many different religions and divisions of opinion on the subject. And so much strife. I am glad that you feel secure in your beliefs; but many are faced with a fog when it comes to god, so choose to simply err on the side of kindness as a life precept as best they may.

Let's hear it for the welders!

Never mind all the boffins taking centre stage with the Hadron Collider - I heard on the radio that the essential corrective work was done by welders, which doesn't sound quite so 'other worldly'

Oh Mishap.I have obviously given the wrong impression of myself. Far from being secure in my beliefs ,I am as confused and uncertain as the next man.

I was speaking generally about God's revelation to mankind. The whole of the OT is about God's revelation of himself to his people little by little and this was continued in the NT and beyond. So we can know God in the Bible and this revelation is continued in the Church (fallible though it is ) and through the writings and teachings of receptive people through the ages. I have found the mystics particularly helpful ;Julian of Norwich, St. John of the Cross and especially Simone Weill who visualised herself on the fringes of religion.

Because of our limitations, we have got things very wrong but one day according to St. Paul ,we will see God face to face( whatever that means )and it is this that gives us hope .This is my perception but in many things I remain agnostic.

But at the very least Greenfinch you believe that the bible is truly an account of god revealing him/herself. I think it is just the writings of a group of people trying to make some sense of life - as indeed we all are.

Doubt it as far as the physics scientists are concerned? The faiths would never accept it is anyway.

I expect, * galen*, that if anyone wants to think of dark matter as somehow encapsulating the essence of their creator god they will do so. I also expect that we'll never know so I'll carry on thinking of dark matter (of course I do! Every day! ) as dark matter and wait for the physicists to tell us what else they've discovered.

That's my thought as well Bags but when I heard on the wireless it being described as 'the stuff that holds the universe together' I thought to meself, bet someone thinks ' I thought that was 'God'. So I put it up as a thought?

Dear All, after some decades of searching, as you might say, religion, spirituality; I have concluded that God is a force, no sexual conatations, an expression of Love, which is in everything and everyone. That love is expressed in the kindness that we express to others. We have forgotten that we are a portion of God, hence, bad things are demonstrated in various strengths. Blessings to all, Margaret.

I think you're on to something there coles! Simple yet complex but explains all world religions fundamental precepts.k

Don't know how that k got there!

That's what I like to think coles. But faith wavering.

When they started with the colliding, they said they were looking for proof of how the universe began. They also referred to this as 'the God particle' I believe. I don't think they are there yet. Ana I think some people feel that if they do find how it happened, it will prove God didn't do it. Like finding a convincing theory of how life began on Earth proves there is no Creator. Or finding galaxy after galaxy out there proves the same. I think it just demonstrates the ineffable incomprehensibility of the Creator.

I think it will contribute to our understanding of the physical universe. I am not looking to physicists to refute or support the concept of a deity.

It is hard to imagine the world without a creator of some kind because the idea chimes with human logic. But it may be that human logic does not fit the bill in something so unimaginably vast.

For me the central question is "Why not nothing?" - and I sincerely believe that there is no answer to that question and that there may never be. But that is fine - ignorance is simply part of the human condition.

I am happy with my "not knowing."

The question that follows on from this is "How should I live my life, given that there is no clear purpose to it?" And I have no trouble answering that one - it is to be kind to those around you.

I do not think the Hadron Collider is going to contribute anything to that question - we will hopefully simply learn some more facts about our world. I am sure you are right Galen that there will be those who will bring god into it - but I will not be one of them!

@Lilygran - No, the tag 'God particle' came not from the scientific investigators - it's pure journalistic claptrap. Peter Higgs (of Higgs Boson fame) calls it inappropriate sensationalism.

@Luckygirl - 'I am happy with my "not knowing" '

"Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence." (^Richard Dawkins^)

Dawkins, as usual, talks arrant nonsense when he's dealing with spiritual concerns. Faith and science are different ways of looking at life, neither has to deny the other. Asking different questions.

Dawkins is quite as dogmatic as any religious fundamentalist - neither stance really helps us all to get on together, which is what really matters.

I reckon Philip Pullman's 'dust' pretty well sums it up for me.
(Am now on standby to be 'corrected' by the religion guru).

I love you Luckygirl.
I love you mcem.