Evidence of Things Unseen

Posted January 11, 2008

A commentary by Sean Yarbrough

Do you believe in things you can't see, hear, smell, taste, or touch? If so, you're not alone.

According to NASA, all the matter we are able to see—planets, stars, galaxies, and everything in between—makes up less than five percent of the universe. The remaining 95 percent is believed to be composed of two elements known as "dark matter" and "dark energy."

Astronomers believe that the gravitational force of dark matter is the reason stars travel at a constant speed around a galaxy, no matter their distance from the center (thus violating Newton's laws of gravity). In fact, the galaxy's rotational forces would likely tear the stars apart if not for the extra gravity keeping them in place. Likewise, the repelling forces of dark energy are believed to explain why the universe is expanding at an increasing rate, rather than slowing down as would be expected. 

However, there's a detail that's often overlooked in this theory: neither dark matter nor dark energy has been directly observed.

That's right! No one has actually confirmed the existence of any dark matter or dark energy. Yet most astronomers and many in the media speak of both phenomena as though their existence were a fact, despite various problems brought to light by recent research. Only a few scientists, such as Mordehai Milgrom of Israel's Weizmann Institute with his Modified Newtonian Dynamics, have dared to challenge this theory with ideas of their own. Still, the vast majority of scientists prefer to assume that dark matter and dark energy exist.

It seems that astronomers and vertical thinkers have something in common —they both see evidence of things that are unseen. Proponents of dark matter/dark energy see various events happening in space and infer the existence of these mysterious, invisible elements. Similarly, through faith we observe certain properties in the natural world and infer the presence of design (see Hebrews 11:1).

The irony, however, is that the same scientific community that accepts the dark matter/dark energy explanation also insists that theories inferring the presence of design in the universe are not scientific because they are not "testable by observation and experimentation" (Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences, Second Edition).

This was made apparent in 2005 when parents in Dover, Pennsylvania sued their local school board for attempting to introduce Intelligent Design Theory into the district's science curriculum alongside evolutionary material. In his 139-page decision, Judge John Jones not only declared the school board's actions unconstitutional, but also took it upon himself to define what is and is not considered to be science. Jones stated, "…forces that we cannot see, replicate, control or test…cannot qualify as part of the scientific process or as a scientific theory."

Applying Judge Jones' logic to dark matter and dark energy theories makes them sound like something from science fiction novels—not astrophysics journals because they are "forces that we cannot see." Yet when credentialed scientists attempt to draw reasonable inferences of design from measurable, confirmable data they have observed in nature, they are ridiculed as crackpots with a subversive religious agenda.

It's important that we not only learn to think critically about various scientific approaches, but that we also learn to recognize anti-God bias when we see it. Otherwise, unquestioned faith in scientific theories may blind us to conclusions that fit all the available evidence—even if that evidence leads to things unseen.

To learn more, please read Intelligent Design's Sherlock Holmes. VT