The Artemis II mission reveals glory of God — not science-based atheism

The Artemis astronauts continue a mission that has given them — and us — a spectacular view of the moon, Earth and deep space — and with it a sense of both scientific accomplishment and renewed awe at the grandeur of our planet. Indeed, many astronauts who have seen Earth from space have reported having an almost spiritual experience. From the Apollo 8 crew reading the Genesis account while viewing Earth from space on Christmas day 1968 to Jared Isaacman, current NASA administrator, reporting that his time in space convinced him that "the heavens declare the glory of God," human space travel has often mixed scientific exploration with religious affirmation.

Nevertheless, leading spokesmen for science often argue that science undermines religious belief. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss, "Science Guy" Bill Nye, science writer Michael Shermer and others have published popular books arguing that science renders belief in God implausible. "The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if … there is no purpose, no design ... nothing but blind, pitiless indifference," Dawkins has famously written.   

Yet, between that message and reality, there is a major disconnect. Over the last century, several important scientific discoveries have challenged science-based atheism and instead support the perspective of the religiously inclined astronauts.

First, scientists have discovered that the physical universe had a beginning. This finding, supported by observational astronomy and theoretical physics, contradicts the expectations of scientific atheists, who long portrayed the universe as eternal and self-existent—and, thus, in no need of an external creator. Evidence supporting the Big Bang instead confirmed traditional theists' expectations. Nobel laureate Arno Penzias, who helped make a key discovery supporting the Big Bang, noted the obvious connection between a cosmic beginning and the concept of divine creation. "The best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted, had I nothing to go on but the five books of Moses...and the Bible as a whole," he wrote.

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Discoveries from physics and astronomy reinforce a theistic view. Physicists have determined that the fundamental laws and parameters of our universe are "finely tuned," against all odds, to make life possible. Even slight alterations of many independent factors — such as the strength of gravitational or electromagnetic attraction, or the initial arrangement of matter and energy — would render life impossible. Thus, many physicists now say we live in a "Goldilocks Universe."

Not surprisingly, many conclude that this improbable cosmic "fine-tuning" points to a "fine-tuner." As former Cambridge astrophysicist Sir Fred Hoyle argued, "A common-sense interpretation of the data suggests that a super intellect has monkeyed with physics" to make life possible.

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Similarly, astronomers have discovered that life on our planet depends upon many other "localized," fine-tuning parameters. The Earth must orbit the sun at just the right distance, with just the right axial tilt, in a right-shaped orbit, with the right planetary neighbors, including a moon of the right size at just the right distance. The solar system itself must also reside in a narrow life-friendly band of space within our galaxy called the "galactic habitable zone." The collective improbability of these and other factors ensures that Earth is a rare, life-friendly "oasis in the big vastness of space," as astronaut James Lovell reflected.

Developments in biology also point to design. After James Watson and Francis Crick elucidated the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, Crick developed his famed "sequence hypothesis." In it, he proposed that the chemical constituents in DNA function like letters in a written language or digital symbols in a computer code. As Microsoft founder Bill Gates explains, "DNA is like a computer program, but far, far more advanced than any software we’ve ever created." Even Dawkins has acknowledged, "the machine code of the genes is uncannily computer-like."

Yet, we know that software comes from programmers. We know generally that information — whether inscribed in hieroglyphics, written in a book, or encoded in radio signals — always arises from an intelligent source. Thus, the discovery of digital information in even the simplest living cell suggests the activity of a master programmer in the origin of life.

A new theatrical film "The Story of Everything" examines these discoveries in more detail. It challenges the popular view that science and belief in God conflict. This trope has led many science-popularizers to revel in the picture of human beings as cosmic orphans in a vast impersonal universe. But growing evidence for the design of life and the universe paints a decidedly different picture, one that aligns far more closely with what many astronauts have experienced firsthand.