RE: Is the Big Bang Actually Religion Masquerading As Science?
You need to realize that the title is a question not a statement.
The question is a valid one. In part because the big bang has become an accepted part of the popular consciousness and is accepted without question by virtually everyone now.
Yet there are alternative explanations for the universe. I posited one and I'm certain there are others.
The core of this post being, that any time you have learned to substitute belief for inquiry, you have substituted religion for science.
I didn't say that everyone has done this. I'm just pointing out that I never was able to accept it, and what my reasoning is. Then again I've never viewed time as an absolutely linear thing either.
I hope you'll take the posting for what it is, a simple meditation on a complex question.
I think the question can be answered rather quickly. No, it's not religion masquerading as Science. People believe in Science because it works and has proven reliable. People usually also understand scientific beliefs are tentative.
The dogma of religion doesn't have the same foundation for belief.
You missed the point. I didn't say all of science. I asked if specifically the big bang theory was religion masquerading as science.
If you accept something without question, then it is religion.
If you find no questions to ask because you are satisfied that is the final answer, then that is religion.
If you accept something because someone in authority has told it to you and handwaved the complexities away as "unknowable", or "it just is". Then that too is religion. Religion represents a point where we simply say... We've hit a fundamental limit. Absolutes and infinities are examples of this. As are turtles all the way down arguments. I'm starting to think that spherical cows may be as well.
You'll notice that I don't handwave away here until the end. I keep digging at what's bothering me about the theory like it's something stuck in my craw, until it comes completely out and I managed to arrive at an plausible alternative.
There is still the question, of "If the universe is a single field being folded, what is doing the folding?" There is also the question of "Why is that field doing that? Why is the field there? Where did it come from? How did it come into being?" I realize that on at least 2 of these I've reached religion or at least spirituality. But at least I pushed back a little and maybe something will push back and I'll find this is all a deadend after all.
But at least I asked and asking was the point.
"If you accept something without question, then it is religion.
If you find no questions to ask because you are satisfied that is the final answer, then that is religion.
If you accept something because someone in authority has told it to you and handwaved the complexities away as "unknowable", or "it just is". Then that too is religion"
I understand and agree with that and by your own criteria I don't see a belief in the big bang as being anything close to religion. The big bang is still a mystery and I just don't see the same level of ardent belief in it that you are referring to with religion.
I think most people understand and simply believe it is our best scientific explanation that meets with the observable facts so far. I've never met a single person that holds to the big bang as a belief in a religious manner.
I still think the question can be quickly answered with a no.