RELIGION

Biblical cosmology
Main article: Biblical cosmology
See also: Genesis creation narrative
The universe of the ancient Israelites was made up of a flat disc-shaped earth floating on
water, heaven above, underworld below.[1] Humans inhabited earth during life and the underworld
after death, and the underworld was morally neutral;[2] only in Hellenistic times (after c.330 BC) did
Jews begin to adopt the Greek idea that it would be a place of punishment for misdeeds, and that
the righteous would enjoy an afterlife in heaven.[3] In this period too the older three-level cosmology
was widely replaced by the Greek concept of a spherical earth suspended in space at the centre of a
number of concentric heavens.[1]

Christianity/modern Judaism
See also: Ex nihilo and Creationism
Around the time of Jesus or a little earlier, the Greek idea that God had actually created matter
replaced the older idea that matter had always existed, but in a chaotic state. This concept,
called creatio ex nihilo, is now the accepted orthodoxy of most denominations of Judaism and
Christianity. Most denominations of Christianity and Judaism believe that a single, uncreated God
was responsible for the creation of the cosmos.[4]

Mormon cosmology
Main article: Mormon cosmology
The Earth's creation, according to Mormon scripture, was not ex nihilo, but organized from existing
matter. The faith teaches that this earth is just one of many inhabited worlds, and that there are
many governing heavenly bodies, including a planet or star Kolob which is said to be nearest the
throne of God. According to the King Follett discourse, God the Father himself once passed through
mortality like Jesus did, but how, when, or where that took place is unclear. The prevailing view
among Mormons is that God once lived on a planet.[5][6]

Buddhism
Main article: Buddhist cosmology
In Buddhism, the universe comes into existence dependent upon the actions (karma) of its
inhabitants. Buddhists posit neither an ultimate beginning nor final end to the universe, but see the
universe as something in flux, passing in and out of existence, parallel to an infinite number of other
universes doing the same thing.
The Buddhist universe consists of a large number of worlds which correspond to different mental
states, including passive states of trance, passionless states of purity, and lower states of desire,
anger, and fear. The beings in these worlds are all coming into existence or being born, and passing
out of existence into other states, or dying. A world comes into existence when the first being in it is
born, and ceases to exist, as such, when the last being in it dies. The universe of these worlds also
is born and dies, with the death of the last being preceding a universal conflagration that destroys
the physical structure of the worlds; then, after an interval, beings begin to be born again and the
universe is once again built up. Other universes, however, also exist, and there are higher planes of
existence which are never destroyed, though beings that live in them also come into and pass out of
existence.
As well as a model of universal origins and destruction, Buddhist cosmology also functions as a
model of the mind, with its thoughts coming into existence based on preceding thoughts, and being
transformed into other thoughts and other states.

Islam
Main articles: Islamic cosmology and Sufi cosmology
Map of the world according to Zakariya al-Qazwini showing his view of how the universe is structured and how
sky and earth are supported. The Earth is considered flat and surrounded by a series of mountains
including Mount Qafthat hold it in its place like pegs; the Earth is supported by an ox that stands on Bahamut
dwelling in a cosmic ocean; the ocean is inside a bowl that sits on top of an angel or jinn.[7]

Islam teaches that God created the universe, including Earth's physical environment and human
beings. The highest goal is to visualize the cosmos as a book of symbols for meditation and
contemplation for spiritual upliftment or as a prison from which the human soul must escape to attain
true freedom in the spiritual journey to God.[8]
Below here there are some other citations from the Quran on cosmology.
"And the heavens We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander." 51:47 Sahih
International
"Do not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of
creation), before We clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then
believe?" 21:30 Yusuf Ali translation
"The day that We roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books (completed),- even as We
produced the first creation, so shall We produce a new one: a promise We have undertaken: truly
shall We fulfil it." 21:104 Yusuf Ali translation

Hinduism
Main article: Hindu cosmology
The Hindu cosmology indicates that the present cycle is not the beginning of everything but
preceded by an infinite number of universes and to be followed by another infinite number of
universes.[citation needed]
The Rig Veda questions the origin of the cosmos in: "Neither being (sat) nor non-being was as yet.
What was concealed? And where? And in whose protection?Who really knows? Who can declare
it? Whence was it born, and whence came this creation? The devas (demigods) were born later than
this world's creation, so who knows from where it came into existence? None can know from where
creation has arisen, and whether he has or has not produced it. He who surveys it in the highest
heavens, he alone knows-or perhaps does not know." [9]
Large scale structure of the Universe according to one Hindu cosmology.

The Rig Veda's view of the cosmos also sees one true divine principle self-projecting as the divine
word, Vaak, 'birthing' the cosmos that we know, from the monistic Hiranyagarbha or Golden Womb.
The Hiranyagarbha is alternatively viewed as Brahma, the creator who was in turn created by God,
or as God (Brahman) himself. The creation begins anew after billions of years (Solar years) of non-
existence.[citation needed]
Brahma's day is divided in one thousand cycles (Maha Yuga, or the Great Year). Maha Yuga, during
which life, including the human race appears and then disappears, has 71 divisions, each made of
14 Manvantara (1000) years. Each Maha Yuga lasts for 4,320,000 years. Manvantara is Manu's
cycle, the one who gives birth and governs the human race.[citation needed]
Each Maha Yuga consists of a series of four shorter yugas, or ages. The yugas get progressively
worse from a moral point of view as one proceeds from one yuga to another. As a result,
each yuga is of shorter duration than the age that preceded it. The current Kali Yuga (Iron Age)
began at midnight 17 February / 18 February in 3102 BC in the proleptic Julian calendar.[citation needed]

Jainism
Main article: Jain cosmology
Jain cosmology considers the loka, or universe, as an uncreated entity, existing since infinity, having
no beginning or an end.[10] Jain texts describe the shape of the universe as similar to a man standing
with legs apart and arm resting on his waist. This Universe, according to Jainism, is narrow at the
top, broad at the middle and once again becomes broad at the bottom.[11]
Mahpura of crya Jinasena is famous for this quote: "Some foolish men declare that a creator
made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill advised and should be rejected. If God
created the world, where was he before the creation? If you say he was transcendent then and
needed no support, where is he now? How could God have made this world without any raw
material? If you say that he made this first, and then the world, you are faced with an endless
regression."

Chinese mythology
Main articles: Chinese creation myth and Tian
There is a "primordial universe" Wuji (philosophy), and Hongjun Laozu, water or qi.[12][13] It
transformed into Taiji and multiplied into everything.[14][15] The Pangu legend tells a
formless chaos coalesced into a cosmic egg. Pangu emerged (or woke up) and separated Yin from
Yang with a swing of his giant axe, creating the Earth (murky Yin) and the Sky (clear Yang). To keep
them separated, Pangu stood between them and pushed up the Sky. After Pangu died, he became
everything.
PHILOSOPHY

the origin of the universe as an argument for the existence of God. Ill examine the issue of
whether new physics might be discovered to enable the universe to be past eternal. Ill offer a
couple of philosophical arguments against the possibility of an eternal past. If these arguments
succeed we can be confident that no scientific discoveries could ever show that the universe
has existed forever. Indeed if these arguments are sound, the scientific evidence Ive offered so
far would become superfluous.
If the universe has existed forever, this would entail an actually infinite number of past events. I
use the term actually infinite to distinguish it from a potential infinite quantity. No one doubts
that the number of future events can grow without limit but this is merely a potential infinite. Any
finite time in the future there would still have been a finite number of events since the current
time so the infinity is just potential it represents an unattainable limit as this article by George
Ellis, a prominent cosmologist, indicates.

Is it possible for actually infinite numbers of entities to be realized in the actual world?
One of the greatest mathematicians of all-time, David Hilbert, certainly didnt think so: the
infinite is nowhere to be found in reality. It neither exists in nature nor provides a legitimate basis
for rational thought. Georg Cantor established a mathematically rigorous way of dealing with
the concept of infinity that is very useful for mathematical and scientific calculations. Although
Hilbert defended Cantors work, he argued that infinities couldnt exist in the actual world or they
would lead to absurdities.
Some readers may be thinking that if it is mathematically possible it has to be physically
possible. But not everything used in mathematics necessarily implies a direct correspondence
with physical ontology (nature of being). Infinitesimals are mathematically feasible and highly
useful in calculus, but modern physics holds that everything is quantized. Mathematical
consistency and coherence doesnt necessarily imply physical realization there are abstract
mathematical systems that can be constructed that are coherent but not all of them are
necessarily realized anywhere in physics. In computer science we often choose between
multiple mathematically equivalent but quite different ways of computing things they cant all
correspond to physical ontology because they entail fundamentally different ways of modeling
reality. Infinities that show up in physics equations are considered problematic unless and until
some type of renormalization can be performed.

So if we can show that absurdities result if actual infinites exist, then we have good reasons for
rejecting the possibility of an actually infinite number of past events even if it is mathematically
feasible. Here is how philosopher Peter S Williams makes this argument to a lay audience:
TRADITION
The term "evolution" usually refers to the biological evolution of living things. But the processes by which
planets, stars, galaxies, and the universe form and change over time are also types of "evolution." In all of
these cases there is change over time, although the processes involved are quite different.
In the late 1920s the American astronomer Edwin Hubble made a very interesting and important
discovery. Hubble made observations that he interpreted as showing that distant stars and galaxies are
receding from Earth in every direction. Moreover, the velocities of recession increase in proportion with
distance, a discovery that has been confirmed by numerous and repeated measurements since Hubble's
time. The implication of these findings is that the universe is expanding.
Hubble's hypothesis of an expanding universe leads to certain deductions. One is that the universe
was more condensed at a previous time. From this deduction came the suggestion that all the currently
observed matter and energy in the universe were initially condensed in a very small and infinitely hot
mass. A huge explosion, known as the Big Bang, then sent matter and energy expanding in all directions.

This Big Bang hypothesis led to more testable deductions. One such deduction was that the temperature
in deep space today should be several degrees above absolute zero. Observations showed this
deduction to be correct. In fact, the Cosmic Microwave Background Explorer (COBE) satellite launched in
1991 confirmed that the background radiation field has exactly the spectrum predicted by a Big Bang
origin for the universe.
As the universe expanded, according to current scientific understanding, matter collected into clouds
that began to condense and rotate, forming the forerunners of galaxies. Within galaxies, including our
own Milky Way galaxy, changes in pressure caused gas and dust to form distinct clouds. In some of
these clouds, where there was sufficient mass and the right forces, gravitational attraction caused the
cloud to collapse. If the mass of material in the cloud was sufficiently compressed, nuclear reactions
began and a star was born.
Some proportion of stars, including our sun, formed in the middle of a flattened spinning disk of
material. In the case of our sun, the gas and dust within this disk collided and aggregated into small
grains, and the grains formed into larger bodies called planetesimals ("very small planets"), some of
which reached diameters of several hundred kilometers. In successive stages these planetesimals
coalesced into the nine planets and their numerous satellites. The rocky planets, including Earth, were
near the sun, and the gaseous planets were in more distant orbits.