In the summer of 2023, a good friend from my high school days summed up his view of religion as follows: As science becomes increasingly powerful in its ability to explain nature, the world relies less and less on religion to explain the unknown.
My friend’s argument is a common one, echoed by prominent atheist Richard Dawkins in his book The God Delusion:
If an apparent gap is found, it is assumed that God, by default, must fill it… gaps shrink as science advances, and God is threatened with eventually having nothing to do and nowhere to hide.
The implication is clear: The existence of this “God of the gaps” is becoming increasingly unnecessary and unlikely over time.
Meanwhile, Dr. Karin Öberg, a professor of astronomy at Harvard University who converted from agnosticism to Catholicism in adulthood (as I did), declared:
The world that we know today… is much more suggestive of a creator than, I think, the universe that people thought they were living in 100 years ago.
Who’s right? As Socrates said, let’s follow the evidence wherever it leads.