Choices

Blind Chance or Divine Design?

Does it really matter how life began?

By Gillian Bethel

Despite endless debate, scientists of all stripes agree on one thing: nature looks designed. It’s inescapable! The better our scientific instruments become, the more we uncover intricate, finely-calibrated systems everywhere—from microorganisms to the universe itself.

But there are paradoxes, too. On one hand, we find natural laws, fine-tuning, cooperation, and great beauty. On the other, we see powerfully destructive events, cruelty, struggle, and death.

What are we to make of this? Of course, reactions differ. Here are a few:

“The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.”¹ Richard Dawkins, zoologist

“Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved.”² Francis Crick, biologist

“The world is too complicated in all parts and interconnections to be due to chance

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References

Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life (Basic Books, 1995), p. 133.
Francis Crick, What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery (Basic Books, 1988), p. 104.
Allan Sandage, “A Scientist Reflects on Religious Belief,” Truth Journal, vol. 1, 1985, p. 54.
“In Defense of Intelligent Design,” PBS Nova, interview conducted on April 6, 2007, pbs.org.
Jonathan Witt, “The Origin of Intelligent Design,” Discovery Institute, Oct. 30, 2007, discovery.org.
“Life Is So Meaningless,” Reddit.com, Oct. 12, 2021.
Thomas Nagel, The Last Word (Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 130, 131.
Jon Sherwood, “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism: A Modern ‘Faith,’” JonSherwood.com (blog), July 27, 2016, jonsherwood.com.
“A Perfect Solar Eclipse,” The John 10:10 Project, video, July 27, 2017, thejohn1010project.com.

Image credits

About the author

Gillian Bethel is the associate editor of Last Generation.