A famous depiction of the creation of man. Image credit: Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel ceiling, via Wikimedia Commons.

Can science prove the existence of God?

And, whether you believe or not, can you approach the question without a preconceived answer coloring your analysis?

“It’s so easy to become a grumbler, someone who condemns and carps at everything on principle and sees an ulterior motive behind it.” -Eric Metaxas

There’s an argument that many people make: that the natural world, and humanity’s existence in the Universe, point towards a divine creator that brought forth all of this into existence. To the best of our knowledge, Earth exists with a plethora of conditions that allowed for our existence, and does so in a way that no other world can match.

The Earth at night from the International Space Station. Image credit: ISS expedition 25 / NASA.

We live in a particularly privileged place. We live on a planet that has all the right ingredients for life, including:

• We’re at the right distance from our Sun so that temperatures are conducive to life.
• We have the right atmospheric pressure for liquid water at our surface.
• We have the right ingredients — the right balance of heavy elements and organic molecules — for life to arise.