Let us examine briefly the scientific narration of the creation of this universe (or cosmos) along with its description supported by scientific theories and observations. Only then can we understand, through the lens of modern knowledge, the extent of the difference between the descriptions and explanations found in various religious texts as we discussed in a previous blog. One does not even need to delve very deep into the subject to realize that the gap is vast; the simple diagrams of the solar system found in science books of our primary schools are sufficient.
Facts such as the Earth and other planets revolving around the Sun in elliptical orbits, the Earth's rotation on its own axis being the reason for the cycle of day and night, the Sun being just one star among countless others, and the spherical shape of the Earth and other celestial bodies remained unknown to humans for a long time—especially during the eras when these religious texts were composed or compiled.
Thinkers of that age framed their cosmic designs and theories of creation on the relative movement of the celestial bodies as appeared to their naked eyes. To them, the Earth was flat, covered by the canopy of the sky, where the Sun, Moon, and other planets and stars revolved around the Earth. They were unaware that the Earth itself is an object rotating and revolving in the space, and that the visible "upper sky" is determined relative to one's geographical location and the Earth's position in its orbit.
Quite naturally, the explanations and information regarding the structure and creation of the universe presented in these holy books are fundamentally flawed. This led to the emergence of various myths, such as the location of Heaven or Hell in the realms above the Earth, and the "Netherworld" (e.g. Patala in Hindu Mythology) deep beneath the ground. Consequently, one of the primary tasks assigned to the Creator was the separation of the sky from the earth. Sometimes it was pulled apart; sometimes a powerful man stood upon the ground and pushed the sky high with both hands; in other places, nothing specific was said, only the act of disconnecting the sky from the earth was mentioned.
According to some scriptures, there exist numerous heavenly kingdoms or skies. In those exquisite worlds, gentle breezes blow with soft fragrances, the celestial river flows, meadows spread out like green carpets, and gardens are filled with fragrant flowers and delicious fruits. There are wine and rhythmic melodies where beautiful nymphs captivate the heart with dance and song—a basket full of such dreams!
In contrast, there are depictions of the inhuman brutality of Hell, which do not exist solely in an imaginary world; they are enforced in the earthly world through the cruelty of those who wield the rod of punishment. The "divine laws" of God intended to punish sinners often provide a moral support for the cruel torture and oppression carried out by the machinery of governance.
Thus the falasy of creation myths described in religious texts is easily exposed with such primitive narration from the science text book of our kids. However, these are merely the basic facts. In the much larger arena of modern Cosmology, we see this gap widening every day. We frequently receive news of the discovery of new galaxies and the identification of exoplanets in distant solar systems that have the potential to harbor life.
While the verses of the Upanishads offer fables of incorporeal souls journeying to and residing in the lunar realm, humans from Earth have actually set foot there, conquered that treacherous terrain, and returned safely. NASA's spacecraft, traveling from planet to planet, are sending back images of the hot and cold landscapes of those worlds.
We have come to realize that our solar system occupies an incredibly tiny space on the map of this universe—it is just one of billions of stars in a single galaxy, wandering through an ever-expanding cosmos. It is impossible to state the exact number of such expanding galaxies, each with its own family of stars, planets, and moons[1].
Among these stars:
· Some are in their "infancy" as nebulae (clouds of gas).
· Some are radiant in their "middle age," much like our Sun.
· Others have shrunk into "elderly" Red Dwarfs or tiny, dim remnants.
· Some have undergone extreme contraction to become Black Holes—singularities, where space and time lose their conventional definitions and whose gravity consumes all matter.
The existence of black holes was predicted by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity nearly a century ago. Their reality was proven just a few years ago through signals captured by a global network of radio telescopes and the resulting reconstructed images.
Truly perceiving this cosmic vision requires deep study, practice, and proficiency in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics. The effort, intellect, and study required to absorb the simple descriptions of the universe's structure found in the narrow confines of religious texts are negligible compared to the immense intellect and concentration scientists apply to unravel the mysteries of creation.
The exploration, explanations, and evidence-based logic that scientists present to modern humanity easily highlight the limitations and errors of scriptural accounts. Consequently, the very fundamental foundations of theistic belief in all existing religions are shaken.
The Age of the Earth and the Universe: Religious Explanations vs. Science
The answer to how long ago this Earth and the entire universe were created is indirectly found in some religious texts. Particularly in Abrahamic religions, the accounts of the descendants of Adam and Eve and the eventual connection of that lineage to historical figures assist in this calculation. For instance, Genesis chapters 5–11 provide a genealogy from Adam to Noah, and from Noah to Abraham, along with the time elapsed between generations. Adding those figures suggests the age of the Earth and the universe is between 6,000 and 10,000 years.[2]
According to science, however, the age of this universe is approximately 13.8 billion years.[3] The history of its creation is as follows:
The Big Bang and Cosmic Evolution
An ultra-hot, ultra-dense point-like entity of energy and matter expanded outward in a big explosion.[4] Gradually, this expanding universe decreased in density and began to cool. In the earliest stages—within an infinitesimal fraction of time (10-32 seconds)—the four fundamental forces[5] became distinct.
Eventually, elementary particles were born, leading to the formation of atoms, molecules, and massive cosmic clouds of hot gases like Hydrogen and Helium. Under the influence of gravity, matter began to accumulate in the centers of dense regions, forming galaxies, stars, planets, moons, comets, and asteroids. The timeline of creation of the Sun, the Earth and the Moon is as follows:
· The Sun: Born approximately 4.6 billion years ago.[6]
· The Earth: Formed from the solar nebula approximately 4.54 billion years ago.[7]
· The Moon: About 50 million years after the solar system formed, a protoplanet[8] collided with Earth. A portion of the Earth was displaced and began orbiting it, resulting in the birth of the Moon.
A Dynamic vs. Static Worldview
Just as stars and planets have a beginning, they also have an end. As a star continuously radiates energy, its fuel eventually exhausts, causing it to contract. This leads to the eventual destruction of the planetary system surrounding it. Similarly, galaxies are created and eventually fade. This process of cosmic birth and destruction has been going on since the birth of the Universe.
In modern science, these events are established through theory and observation. Naturally, in this dynamic process, scientific knowledge is ever-growing, and is always subject to scrutiny and examination based on new data and observations. Conversely, religious scriptures present their descriptions, explanations, and laws as infallible and immutable, offering their version of the creation and composition of universe as absolute truth.[9]
The History of the Appearance of Animals and Humans on Earth: A Brief Scientific Account
Another aspect of creation theory that has intrigued humanity since the dawn of civilization is: how did life appear on Earth? Specifically, when and how did the first primitive man and woman—whose descendants we are—take birth on this planet? Just as the formation of the universe from "nothing" is a great wonder, the spark of life entering inorganic matter is also deeply mysterious. Scientists are constantly striving to find answers to these two questions through observations and analyses of nature, natural laws of cause and effect, and worldly phenomena.
In this everlasting quest, various branches of science are increasingly enriching one another with complementary and consistent data, analysis, and theory. This reservoir of knowledge is far more expansive and complex than the explanations, conjectures, and descriptions found in religious texts; however, it is tested or inferred through physical evidence, requiring deep study, practice, observation, and scientific research to internalize. This is where the qualitative difference lies between scientific accounts and the various stories of the appearance of animals—especially humans—described in scriptures. The theories in religious books are as unbridled as a mythical winged horse (like Pakshiraj horse in fairy tales for kids). They are not meant to follow natural laws, or to present any physical evidence as proofs of their existence —things that are absolutely essential in a scientific explanation.
A brief account of the scientific narrative on the creation of this planet and the appearance of life and its evolution, is presented here.[10] From this account, we find that the gap between these two worldviews is insurmountable.
The Evolution of the Planet and the Environment
The question of the origin of life on Earth is directly linked to the evolution of the Earth’s geological map, climate, and environment.[11] The history of the appearance of life and the evolution of the living world is inextricably tied to the history of how a rotating ring of hot nebula, separated from the Sun approximately 4.54 billion years ago, became suitable for harboring life.[12]
For nearly 500 million years, an environment capable of sustaining life did not exist on Earth. For almost 2 billion years, there was insufficient oxygen in the atmosphere, nor was there an upper ozone layer. Due to the impact of ultraviolet rays, life on land was impossible. Even after the emergence of aquatic life, it took nearly another 3.5 billion years to evolve from a microscopic biological world to a fully developed one.[13]
During and after this period, massive environmental changes and occasional cosmic disasters, such as asteroid collisions, wiped out vast numbers of various species. It took millions of years for the Earth to become vibrant again with the arrival and spread of new species adapted to the new environments. During these times, the entire Earth sometimes remained frozen for long periods; at other times, it warmed up, causing glacial melt and floods that exerted immense pressure on the crust, bringing massive changes to the globe. Sometimes the atmosphere was choked with excessive greenhouse gases; at other times, the evolution and spread of various species of photosynthetic plants vastly increased atmospheric oxygen.
The Changing Map of the World
The geological map of the Earth has also undergone various changes over this long duration. It took nearly 4 billion years for the current map of seven continents and oceans to form.[14] Approximately 240 million years ago, all the landmasses of Earth were joined into a single supercontinent. Scientists have named this continent Pangea (meaning "entire Earth"). This too was formed over millions of years by the movement and collision of massive tectonic plates beneath the land. This continent began to break apart 200 million years ago, eventually taking the shape of our current map by approximately 65 million years ago.
The Biological Timeline: From Single Cells to Humanity
Scientists divide the vast history of Earth into stages based on climate, environment, and biodiversity. The largest of these divisions is called an Eon. According to the primary stages of evolution, these Eons are named:
· Hadean (4.54 – 4.0 billion years ago)
· Archean (4.0 – 2.5 billion years ago)
· Proterozoic (2.5 billion – 538.8 million years ago)
· Phanerozoic (538.8 million years ago – Present)
The Dawn of Life
The Hadean Eon was entirely lifeless.[15] In the following Archean Eon, the first life emerged as protocells.[16] These evolved into single-celled bacteria, and eventually, around 3.8 billion years ago, a distinct single-celled domain called Archaea branched off from bacteria.[17]
At this time, there was no oxygen in the atmosphere. However, around 3.0 billion years ago, the emergence of photosynthetic Cyanobacteria changed everything. These bacteria could split water to produce oxygen. Initially, this oxygen reacted with iron in the oceans, creating the iron ore deposits found today.[18] Once these minerals were saturated, oxygen began leaking into the atmosphere.
The Great Oxygenation Event
Around 2.5 billion years ago, atmospheric oxygen levels surged—an event known as the Great Oxygenation Event. This was toxic to many early anaerobic species, leading to their extinction, while oxygen-dependent life flourished. This transition marks the start of the Proterozoic Eon.
Around 1.85 billion years ago, complex single-celled organisms with a nucleus—Eukaryotes—appeared.[19] Over the following eons, fungi and multicellular plants evolved.[20] By 1.2 billion years ago, organisms developed the ability for sexual reproduction through meiosis, which significantly accelerated the pace of evolution.
The Explosion of Diversity
By 750 million years ago, the first animals began to evolve.[21] Between 580–540 million years ago, the first large multicellular marine animals appeared. Then, 538.8 million years ago, the Cambrian Explosion occurred, resulting in a massive surge of diverse species. This marks the end of the Proterozoic and the start of the Phanerozoic Eon.
During this era, a brief timeline of emergence of different species may be summarised as follows:
· 535 million years ago: Ancestors of arthropods, mollusks, and chordates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals) emerged.
· 485 million years ago: The first vertebrates (primitive fish) appeared.
· 195 million years ago: Dinosaurs rose to dominance, only to be wiped out (except for avian lineages) approximately 66 million years ago.[22]
The Rise of Humans
In the wake of these extinctions, the Hominin lineage emerged around 6.5 million years ago—the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees. The human family tree grew more complex as we may find with the following brief historical timeline of its evolution.
· 2 million years ago: Homo habilis (closer relative to humans) appeared.
· 300,000 years ago: Homo sapiens (modern humans) emerged in Africa.[23]
· 13,000 years ago: The Neolithic Age began, marked by the start of agriculture and permanent human settlements.
Truthfulness in Religion
The creation myths of various religions are riddled with errors. However, it is unfair to blame the sages and preachers of those ancient eras. They conceived ideas and narrated descriptions based on their contemporary worldview, inherited tribal lore, and the limited knowledge of their time. The real problem lies with today’s religious custodians and apologists. They publicly validate those narratives that are objectively obsolete, wrapping them in a shroud of "holiness." This is where their oaths on truthfulness become questionable.
Despite this, these proponents—and even many so-called liberal humanist intellectuals—claim that following a religion is essential for building a truthful and moral character. These mythical creation stories demonstrate just how shaky the foundation of that "truthful" inspiration really is.
Unable to ignore the reality of modern knowledge system, these apologists employ several desperate strategies to lighten the burden of these falsehoods without disowning their scriptures. A few such tactics are illustrated below.
The Strategy of Avoidance and taking shelter under the umbrella of Pseudo-Philosophy
They carefully avoid the specific details of creation myths that directly clash with scientific facts and knowledge. Instead of debunking them, they divert the discussion to a form of the "Atheism vs. Theism" debate. Their logic: “Since science doesn't have the final answer to how the universe began, the idea of a Creator should be given equal weight.”
The flaw here is that various Gods in diverse religious texts are mostly competitors, not allies. A core claim of these Gods is their infallibility. If a single description of creation is proven false, their "divinity" would vanish into thin air. Apologists would go on talking non-coherently non-sense irrelevant topics and drawing allegories without any objectivity to avoid this simple logical conclusion, because acknowledging it would collapse the entire social and moral structure they have built like a house of cards.
The "God is All-Knowing"
Another argument is: “Not everything is in the scriptures, but God is omniscient. He knew these secrets all along; humans are only now discovering them, but humans can never know the full truth.”
This evades the divine responsibility for the errors that are narrated in those holy texts. If God is all-knowing, why are the scriptures full of narrations that are proved wrong by scientific discoveries and explanations. Admitting these falsehoods would destroy the concept of an omniscient God, making many religious restrictions and accounts of "sin-and-virtue" meaningless.
The "Deep Allegory" Trap
This is the most common tactic: “What is written has a much deeper meaning! If you understand the 'core,' you’ll see it’s the same as science—just a different form of the same truth.”
This is a desperate attempt to force a fit of a narration in a scripture with scientific theory and explanations. Examples include:
· Comparing the ‘separation of heaven and earth’ to the Big Bang or cosmic expansion.
· Claiming that the religious myth of ‘man being made from clay’ is ‘scientific’ because clay contains nitrogen, oxygen, and ammonia—elements essential for life.
These comical comparisons fall apart quickly. Scientific cosmology is so deep and consistent that religious texts appear shallow and contradictory by comparison. Apologists eventually retreat, claiming that "religious knowledge is a vast ocean" that cannot be explained in a brief discussion.
Denying Reality
Some take the path of total denial; they deny the existence of the material world itself, acknowledging only the existence of God. They argue that because the world is perceived through individual senses, it is merely a matter of perception; it has no objective existence.
Ironically, these same preachers never ignore the material world when it comes to enforcing rules. They issue decrees on sins, promise heavens, threaten with hells, and offer lists of worldly benefits for worship. They only use "Adwaitavad" (non-dualism) or riddles to hide the falsehood in the narration of the physical world found in their holy books.
Just to sum up we may say that, while science can afford to ignore religion in the modern age, religion is forced to repeatedly knock the door of science in search of some accommodation in its narration to keep its relevance alive and meaningful. These efforts, however, remain stagnant and often appear ridiculous.
At the end, I would like to put the following disclaimer to make the context of the above text clear to my readers.
This critique applies to those religious individuals who still struggle with the conflict between faith and reason. Beyond them lies a vast elite class of beneficiaries and multitudes of followers, who do not care for rationality at all. For them, blind faith and blind devotion are the only currency.
15/2/26
(Translated from a Bengali article written by the author with the help of Google Gemini.)
[1] Since the universe is constantly expanding, its boundaries are moving further away from the Earth every moment. It is impossible to state the total volume of the universe or the exact number of galaxies. With current technology, we can only observe cosmic objects within a sphere with a diameter of approximately 93 billion light-years (the Observable Universe). Within that space, there are roughly 2 trillion galaxies and 1024 stars. This latter number is greater than the total number of grains of sand on all the beaches of Earth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe
[4] This event is termed the Big Bang.
[5] Gravity, Electromagnetism, the Weak Nuclear Force, and the Strong Nuclear Force.
[8] Scientists have named this planet Theia; it was roughly the size and mass of Mars.
[9] No matter how absurd the rigid, irrational stance of religious institutions may seem today, history is full of the tragic consequences of such dogmatism. During the European Renaissance, Nicolaus Copernicus could not publish his heliocentric theory during his lifetime for fear of the Catholic Church. Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for supporting this view. When Galileo Galilei used his telescope to show the moons of Jupiter—further proving the heliocentric model—he was forced by the papal court to recant his statements and remained under house arrest until his death.
[13] Until approximately 580 million years ago, life was primarily microscopic, and until 1 billion years ago, life existed only in oceans and water bodies.
[15] Hadean: A hellish, lifeless period. Earth had a molten core and mantle. The atmosphere was formed by volcanic gases like methane and CO2. No oxygen existed.
[16] Abiogenesis: Scientists have several hypotheses for how organic matter arose from inorganic environments, though no single model is yet fully established.
[17] Prokaryotes: Cells without a nucleus. Scientists believe all life shares a common source called the Last Universal Ancestor (LUA).
[18] Cooling: During the Archean, the crust solidified, and the first continents formed.
[19] Eukaryotes: Cells with a defined nucleus and membrane-bound organelles.
[20] Fungi: Evidence of land-based fungi exists from around 1.3 billion years ago.
[21] Ozone Layer: Around 720–630 million years ago, as oxygen levels rose, the Ozone Layer formed in the upper atmosphere. This blocked lethal UV radiation, finally making life on land possible.
[22] Mass Extinction: The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction, likely caused by a 10km-wide asteroid, wiped out all non-avian dinosaurs and most land animals weighing over 25kg.
