For this blog post, I would like to focus on what I think is the best argument for the existence of God – design in the universe. Years ago we didn’t have the instruments to be able to detect design on the large scale or the small scale, but recently design features have been popping up all over the place.

Let’s start with large-scale design all across the universe. Over the past few years scientists have discovered an ever-growing list of characteristics that must have specific values for life to exist. I’m just going to list some of them here – the strong nuclear force constant, the weak nuclear force constant, gravity, electromagnetism, the ratio of proton to electron mass, expansion rate of the universe, the mass density of the universe, the velocity of light, the average distance between stars, the number of active neutrinos in the universe. There are well over 100 of these parameters that have to be precisely figured for life to exist. For example, someone once calculated that if the force of gravity changed the equivalent of 1 inch on a tape measure spread across the entire universe, there would be no life. The same is true when we look at the universe of that closer to home. The earth, for example, has to be in the right location in the solar system, have the right atmosphere, have the right kind of plate tectonics, be tilted exactly as it is, and so on. The sun must be the correct color, put out an exact amount in its solar wind, be in the right location of the galaxy, and on and on.

This large-scale design is obvious to scientists. Steven Weinberg, an atheist scientist, expressed amazement at the way the cosmological constant (the energy density of empty space) is “remarkably well-adjusted in our favor.” Paul Davies, a well-known author and scientist, said this: “There is powerful evidence that there is something going on behind it all. It seems as though somebody has fine-tuned nature’s numbers to make the universe. The impression of design is overwhelming.”

Next time I’d like to look at design on the microscopic level. Since people today are impressed with scientific pronouncements, this discussion of design is a good way to interact with those who don’t think there is a God.