Karl Markis: Cultural Impact of a New Cosmogony

What secrets will the discovery of the universe’s origin unfold? With the dawn of new technologies in the past century that allow scientists to accurately measure the size and expansion rate of the universe, it will only be a matter of time until we again theorize a cosmogony. New instruments are “producing the first detailed data about the distant universe.” (sciencemag.org) Every culture that has ever existed developed a cosmogony, and these stories that dictate the creation of the universe play a vital role in social interaction and religious beliefs. Cosmogony influences beliefs of how humans and the world were created, so any new views that take amass global support will affect smaller culture’s understandings. If we develop an origin story based on scientific evidence and data, what will happen to all the current views of how the universe was made? Religious origin stories may come to question and have their credibility challenged in the face of concrete evidence. Most of my family still lives in Mexico, where people generally follow the bible’s interpretation of the origin story. In fact, well over 80% of the Mexican population is Catholic, with close to half of the population attending church weekly (Cheney, David). To be confronted by a scientifically-based theory that questions and may even conflict with Catholic views would cause mayhem in my family. There are millions of co-existing cosmological views, but the bond that ties them all is that they are religiously founded or based on a personal system of beliefs. There has been a global push to find a cosmogony “based on scientific evidence and created by a collaboration of people from different religions and races all around the world.” (sciencemag.org) I simply fear that people aren’t considering the duality of this new cosmogony. While it would be the first view based on pure science and math, the impact it will have on religious zealots (like my family) may cause a clash.

Burch, Allen. Cosmology and 21st-Century Culture. Sciencemag. Vol. 293, September 7, 2001. www.Sciencemag.org.

Cheney, David. Statistics by Diocese. http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/. October 1, 2008. November 5, 2005. http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/country/scmx1.html.