The Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism (2018)

Johnson, B.M. 2018. Towards a young universe cosmology. In Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism , ed. J.H. Whitmore, pp. 46–51. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Creation Science Fellowship. TOWARDS AYOUNG UNIVERSE COSMOLOGY Bryan M. Johnson , Independent scholar, johnsonbryanmark@gmail.com ABSTRACT Distant starlight is one of the most challenging natural phenomena to reconcile with a recent creation. Most creationist cosmologies attempt to address this apparent contradiction between God’s two books by appealing to the flexibility associated with our definition of time (Hartnett 2007; Humphreys 2008; Lisle 2010). In their current formulation, these cosmologies allow for long cosmological times periods while preserving short time periods on earth (they can thus be viewed as young earth but old universe cosmologies). Assuming that astronomical distance measurements are accurate, a consistent young universe cosmology would appear to require either some form of mature creation (i.e., local generation of starlight that is only apparently distant) or a variation in the speed of light. There is a vast literature on a variable speed of light (both creationist and non-creationist), often accompanied by a fair bit of controversy and misunderstanding. Creationist explorations have relied on suspect extrapolations of uncertain historical measurements to argue for a speed of light that has decreased since the time of Creation (Setterfield 1987). However, a speed of light that varies with gravity stands on much firmer theoretical footing. In particular, there is a direct mathematical analogy between weak-field gravity and a varying speed of light (Barceló et al. 2011). This paper will explore some of the implications associated with assuming that this analogy represents an underlying physical reality. One implication of this picture is that cosmological redshifts are due to a spatial variation in the speed of light (Dicke 1957) rather than to the expansion of space, although in principle both physical effects could be operating in concert. If light propagates faster in regions of space where gravity is weak, the extremely low gravitational potential of cosmological voids may be sufficient to put the entire universe in causal contact with the Earth on the time scale of Biblical history. Attributing cosmological redshifts to a spatial variation in the speed of light alone would obviate the need for dark energy, and a model in which the speed of light increases in the outskirts of galaxies has the potential to explain galactic rotation curves without invoking dark matter or modifying Newtonian dynamics. Finally, the model predicts a redshift evolution for the Tolman surface brightness signal (Hubble and Tolman 1935) that differs from that predicted by an expanding universe model, with the current model being more in line with observations. Not only does this hypothesis provide a straightforward solution to the problem of distant starlight, its connection with gravity also points the way towards the development of a robust and predictive young universe cosmological model. KEY WORDS cosmology, gravity dependent speed of light, distant star light Copyright 2018 Creation Science Fellowship, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA www.creationicc.org 46 INTRODUCTION The light from distant stars poses a significant challenge to any attempt to reconcile natural revelation with a recent creation. How can we see light from stars and other astronomical objects that are tens of thousands to billions of light years away from us if the earth has been in existence for fewer than 10,000 years? Resolving this tension scientifically requires modifying 1) distance measurements, 2) our notions of time, or 3) the constancy of the speed of light. The first is quite difficult to justify, as astronomical distance measurements are very well established (Faulkner 2004). Most creationist cosmologies take the second approach by invoking some form of relativistic time dilation (Hartnett 2007; Humphreys 2008). The model of Lisle (2010) is something of a combination of the second and third approaches, as it departs from the conventional definition for the speed of light and also allows for long time scale processes to occur at large distances. The goal of this paper is to direct attention to the third approach as a promising avenue for creationist cosmological research. For various reasons, creationists are reluctant to entertain the third approach as a viable option. Previous explorations in this area have generated a significant amount of controversy in the creation science community (Setterfield 1987), and the present paper is not an attempt to revive that particular controversy. Another reason for our reluctance is the strong association in both scientific and popular culture between Einstein’s theories of relativity and the notion that the speed of light is a universal constant. As I shall argue below, however, there are solid physical reasons for considering a varying speed of light, and one can do so without violating any of Einstein’s theories. A compelling motivation for doing so is that most existing creationist cosmologies can be viewed as young earth but old universe, in the sense that they allow for astrophysical processes to take place on long time scales, even while those time scales are short in the reference frame of the earth. A consistent young universe cosmology (which seems to be a more natural fit with the Biblical record) requires either some form of mature creation or a variable speed of light. As an aside, a brief comment on mature creation is in order. While mature creation is the best answer to a great many of the objections to a recent creation, and indeed an essential part of any creationist