We Still Need God for Consciousness Despite Reports to the Contrary

By Joshua R. Farris

Secularism is on the rise and one of the narratives motivating it is the view that God is no longer needed to explain consciousness and its origins.

A new view on consciousness is increasingly gaining attention in science and religion discussions. This is both promising and disheartening. It is promising because it means that hard-line scientistic views of consciousness advanced by the New Atheists (e.g., Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris) are increasingly becoming less plausible in popular discussions. It is disheartening because the view replacing it remains secular—that is, it’s just another view that purports that consciousness and everything else can be explained without God.

If you’re religious, then this isn’t good news. And, it’s disheartening because we are hearing of ongoing reports that the West is increasingly becoming secular. Pew Research reports have in recent history reported that there is a significant decline in religious belief as well as religious practice. Much of this seems to be the fruit of church closings of 2020 simultaneous with progressive secularist re-envisionings of traditional institutions like marriage. What this means is that there are growing numbers who identify as “unaffiliated” and, worse, atheistic. What this ultimately means is that there is ongoing decay of societal values and a weakening of the moral fiber of its citizens. As a Christian minister, I am concerned that we are seeing the dwindling of values that solidify a strong society committed to principles representing traditional Christian teaching. And, worse, many are pushing for further secularization that they see as part and parcel of what it means to be a democratic society. One recent author described this as a religion in itself, just not one that is theistic.

Recent discussions surrounding science and religion are not immune to this secularizing effect. It’s not surprising that so many in recent history have described the notions of God, the soul, and the afterlife as crazy ideas with no scientific support in sight. This was certainly a claim made recently by physicist Sean Caroll. But he’s not the only one; new atheists continue to advance such an idea. Several others have similar attitudes to traditional ideas that require religious commitment. Developmental psychologist Bruce Hood is one obvious example when he says: “It seems almost redundant to call for the retirement of the free willing self, as the idea is neither scientific nor is this the first time the concept has been dismissed for lack of empirical support.” Francis Crick and Owen Flanagan too have opted for a complete secularizing of the mind, God, the afterlife and other such religious notions that were once taken to be normative in public consciousness. Crick opts for a complete scientistic or physical view of consciousness when he states: “You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules.” In Flanagan we see the parallel to the ongoing secularization of social morality when he states: “desouling is the primary operation of the scientific image.” This should concern us.

The same is occurring in consciousness studies. But one thing has changed. There is a recognition that consciousness is not wholly material and physics can’t explain it—or at least its not clear how physics can or ever could explain consciousness. This sentiment is growing even amongst those who were once wholly committed to a physics view of consciousness. Even secularist Annaka Harris (wife of the famous New Atheist Sam Harris) has come around to arguing that physics might not have the resources to explain consciousness and we should look at a view that takes seriously the utter uniqueness of consciousness apart from physical bits and particles.

There are those who are taking seriously the fact that science and quantitative analysis cannot give us an explanation of consciousness. And why should it? Consciousness is a wholly subjective reality that has a felt or qualitative feel to it. It is wholly unlike what we find in physics. And, in fact, this is what Philip Goff claims in his recent work Galileo’s Error. He argues that Galileo led science down a path purporting to explain everything through quantitative and mathematical analysis alone. But, here’s the problem: quantities don’t and can’t explain everything—for example, qualities. They just don’t. The two are different. And, no doubt, Galileo’s impact has been significant and the scientific approach to quantitative analysis has done a great deal in terms of explaining our world. But, it can’t explain why you like chocolate or the experience you feel when a loved one smiles at you.

For Goff, qualities and experience actually exist, and this is what it means to be conscious. So far, so good. This is an improvement on recent attempts to explain consciousness according to mathematical quantities, physical bits, and mechanisms. And, once again, as I said above, this is both promising and disheartening. Its promising because what was once conceived as something that science couldn’t explain used to be explained by God. But there’s something disheartening. Like so many secular proposals, Goff suggests that while we can’t explain consciousness and the world by the austere physics of Galileo with its emphasis on mathematical quantities, this doesn’t mean that we need God to explain it.

Instead, he posits that we can have qualities and consciousness. Accordingly, he takes it that qualities, like quantities, exist at the most fundamental levels of the physical universe and consciousness is, somehow, a higher order product of biological evolution.

But there are two problems, it seems. Qualities can’t simply be added to Nature, which is otherwise explained wholly and completely by physics. Qualities are dependent on something. Consciousness isn’t something that is merely an utterly unique feature of an otherwise resistant physical system explained by quantities, but is a feature of something entirely different, something more akin to a soul. At a minimum, the jury’s still out on whether we can get consciousness from an otherwise resistant system explained almost solely by quantities. But there’s another problem. Consciousness is contingent. It’s something that comes into existence. But where does it come from? Goff, and his colleagues, give no answer other than: it just does.

Here’s the question, then: Why think this is a better explanation for qualities and consciousness than the older view that we are souls created by God?

In the end, despite reports to the contrary, this new secularism of consciousness doesn’t give us the hope that it promises. While it’s true that secularism is growing, we shouldn’t be fooled into thinking that it supplies a better answer to consciousness. 

— Joshua R. Farris (PhD) is an ordained minister and the Humboldt Experienced Researcher Fellow at the University of Bochum. He was a previous fellow at The Creation Project, Carl F. H. Henry Center, TEDS, and Heythrop College, University of London. He was also the Chester and Margaret Paluch Professor at Mundelein Seminary, University of Saint Mary of the Lake. He is the author of The Creation of Self: A Case for the Soul.

Photo credit: h.koppdelaney on VisualHunt.com

---

[sponsored]

Persuasive Apologetics

The Art of Handling Tough Questions Without Pushing People Away

Loving our neighbors well includes engaging in robust conversations that destabilize false belief systems. In addressing the mind, will, and emotions of actual, complex people, Christian believers must develop various approaches to meet diverse personalities and multiple connection points.

In Persuasive Apologetics, pastor and professor Jeffrey M. Robinson explores what's below the surface of intellectual-sounding objections to Christianity. He shows what it means to contend for the truth through real-life examples of communicating with those who hold differing beliefs. Robinson covers foundational and practical issues, such as

• the importance of demeanor in being persuasive

• various apologetic approaches

• the influence of worldview presuppositions

• using undercutting defeaters to expose faulty thinking

• causes of nonbelief

• the historical Jesus compared with figureheads of competing belief systems

• the hope that Jesus offers.

Persuasive Apologetics will challenge serious seekers to peel back the layers of skeptical arguments and equip committed Christians looking to hone their apologetics skills.

“Consider this volume a one-size-fits-all text, which is not surprising considering that Jeff Robinson is a pastor with an earned PhD. Accordingly, this book moves from why apologetics is needed to worldviews, methodology, particular tactics, answers to world religions, the problem of evil, and the believer’s final hope of eternity. After all, if Christianity is true, it ought to be applied in very practical ways! Check it out―highly recommended!”

— Gary R. Habermas, Distinguished Research Professor, Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA

“This incredible book is the perfect balance of mind and heart. Jeff Robinson, a pastor of a church in South Florida where sixty-six first-generation nations are represented, knows how to connect with the world and culture. He has a heart to love people and to reach them. And he has the academic prowess to know how to guide challenging biblical conversations. I commend highly his book.”

— Thom S. Rainer, Founder and CEO, Church Answers, Author of I Am a Church Member

Find Persuasive Apologetics at Amazon and other major booksellers.

---

Why Did God Do That?

Discovering God’s Goodness in the Hard Passages of Scripture

Violent wars, harsh laws, pronounced judgments. Christianity proclaims God’s goodness, yet the Bible is filled with passages that seem to paint a different picture. On the surface, such depictions can hinder our confidence in God’s goodness. But when we’re willing to look deeper, we discover a consistent purpose behind everything God does—and that he is greater than we could ever imagine.

Alongside bestselling author Josh McDowell, Matthew Tingblad invites you to discover how a good God has good reasons for his challenging actions in the Bible. Throughout, you will uncover the reality of God’s consistent motives and purposes: holiness, justice, and radical mercy.

Whether you have your own questions about God or are ministering to those who do, Matthew and Josh will guide you through these difficult passages and ideas, all the while pointing to God’s power and redeeming love.

“Violence in the Old Testament. Misogyny. Hell. These are topics many Christians would shy away from or try to dismiss with a quick answer. Instead, Tingblad and McDowell acknowledge the real challenge these topics pose—and yet boldly proclaim that Christianity has the resources to demonstrate God’s goodness. This is a nuanced, well-balanced, and exceedingly strong case for our good God.”

— Lee Strobel, New York Times bestselling author and founding director of the Lee Strobel Center for Evangelism and Applied Apologetics, Colorado Christian University

“I am thrilled about the release of Tingblad and McDowell’s stunning book Why Did God Do That? While well organized and accessible, this book is deep, thorough, and carefully researched. . . . Tingblad and McDowell argue convincingly not that God is good in spite of these texts; rather, he is good within them. There is no book like this one. I could not recommend it more highly.”

— J.P. Moreland, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University

See our recent excerpt from Why Did God Do That? here.

Find Why Did God Do That? at Amazon, Harvest House, and other major booksellers.

---

Advertise in The Worldview Bulletin

Do you have a ministry, book, course, conference, or product you’d like to promote to 6,793 Worldview Bulletin readers? Click here to learn how. We’re currently booking for October-November.

---

Support The Worldview Bulletin

Your support makes The Worldview Bulletin possible! We couldn’t do this without the support of you, our readers. We would be grateful for your help in any of the following ways, which allows us to continue providing our readers and the world with the very best in Christian philosophy, apologetics, and defense of the Christian worldview.

• Subscribe to receive regular articles from our team only available to paid subscribers, and gain access to our full archive of scores of past articles and new videos.

• Give a gift subscription to a family member or friend who would benefit, or subscribe a group of four or more and save 25%.

• Make a one-time or recurring donation.

“Staffed by a very respected and biblically faithful group of Evangelical scholars, The Worldview Bulletin provides all of us with timely, relevant, and Christian-worldview analysis of, and response to, the tough issues of our day.  I love these folks and thank God for their work in this effort.”
— JP Moreland, distinguished professor of philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, author of Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology (Crossway)

“The Worldview Bulletin is a must-have resource for everyone who’s committed to spreading and defending the faith. It’s timely, always relevant, frequently eye-opening, and it never fails to encourage, inspire, and equip.”
— Lee Strobel, New York Times bestselling author of more than forty books and founding director of the Lee Strobel Center for Evangelism and Applied Apologetics   

“I find The Worldview Bulletin very stimulating and would encourage all thinking Christians to read it.”
— John Lennox, emeritus professor of mathematics, University of Oxford, emeritus fellow in mathematics and philosophy of science, Green Templeton College, author of Cosmic Chemistry: Do God and Science Mix? (Lion)

“The Worldview Bulletin is a wonderful resource for the church. It’s timely and helpful.” — Sean McDowell, associate professor in the Christian Apologetics program at Talbot School of Theology and author of The Fate of the Apostles: Examining the Martyrdom Accounts of the Closest Followers of Jesus (Routledge)

“Are you looking for a way to defend your Christian worldview? If so, look no further. At The Worldview Bulletin you’ll encounter world-leading scholars dispensing truth in a digestible format. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to engage in this meeting of the minds.”
— Bobby Conway, Founder of The One-Minute Apologist, author of Does God Exist?: And 51 Other Compelling Questions About God and the Bible (Harvest House) 

“The Worldview Bulletin is a wonderful resource for those desiring to inform themselves in matters of Christian apologetics. Learn key points in succinct articles written by leading scholars and ministers. All for the monthly price of a cup of coffee!”
— Michael Licona, associate professor of theology at Houston Christian University and author of Why Are There Differences in the Gospels? What We Can Learn From Ancient Biography (Oxford University Press)

“The Worldview Bulletin shines a brilliant light of truth in a darkening world. These authors, who are experts in their field, consistently provide logical, rational, moral and most importantly biblical answers, in response to the deceitful narratives we are bombarded with daily. I have found it a great source of enlightenment, comfort, and inspiration.”
— B. Shadbolt, Subscriber, New South Wales, Australia