Centennial Review
Principled Ideas from the Centennial Institute Publisher, William L. Armstrong
Volume 3, Number 2 • March 2011
CREATOR’S HAND,
UNSEEN TO ATHEISTS,
IS EVIDENT TO SCIENTISTS
By Lee Strobel
For much of my life, I was an atheist. I
thought that God didn’t create people,
but that people created God out of
their fear of death. To me, the mere
concept of an all-loving, all-powerful,
all-knowing Creator of the universe
was absurd on the surface. It wasn’t
worth my time to check out.
In a sense, I was ahead of my time, because today atheism
is at the height of fashion. Books like God is Not Great, The
God Delusion, and The End of Faith top the best-seller lists.
The number of Americans who identify themselves
as having no religious affiliation has almost doubled One in four
since 1990, to 15 percent. Fully one in four adults
under the age of 30 describe their religion as “atheist,” adults under
“agnostic,” or “nothing in particular.”1 30 claim no
While I don’t think there’s a massive shift toward
disbelief in America, it’s clear that atheists are
garnering increased attention and becoming more
aggressive. So it’s important to understand that the
implications of atheism go beyond the obvious spiritual
ones and affect our culture and society.
Impact on Liberty, Identity, Morality
For example, consider how atheism impacts freedom. The
Declaration of Independence says: “We hold these truths
to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.”
These rights are divinely ordained. They don’t come from
the government, but they originate with our Creator. But if
there is no God, then who gives us our rights? Congress?
The President? The Supreme Court? What the government
gives, the government can take away. But what we get from
God is ours forever—no matter who is pulling the levers
of political power.
In addition, our value as human beings is derived from the
fact that we are made in the image of God. If God doesn’t
exist, then the radical animal-rights advocates are correct:
Editor, John Andrews
we’re just animals with no more intrinsic worth than a sea
urchin. Yet if we are uniquely made in God’s image, then
our lives do have special meaning, value, and significance.
And atheism has an impact on our view of morality. If
there is no God, then there can be no universal right and
wrong. There would only be opinions, preferences, and
shifting social norms. Consequently, the atheist cannot
help but flail in a sea of moral relativism. Atheist John D.
Steinrucken candidly admitted in American Thinker:
Those who doubt the effect of religion on morality
should seriously ask the question: Just what are the
immutable moral laws of secularism? Be prepared to
answer, if you are honest, that such laws simply do not
exist! The best answer we can ever hear from secularists
to this question is a hodgepodge of strained relativist
talk of situational ethics. They can cite no overriding
authority other than that of fashion.2
But theists offer a solid basis for objective
moral values. Christians believe that moral
values are not invented by humankind but
are grounded in the very nature of a good
and loving God who made us in his image
and implanted a sense of right and wrong
religion. in our hearts.
Case for a Creator
In fact, we all know deep down that universal moral
standards do exist, and this provides a strong argument
for the existence of God, since they are inexplicable in a
purely materialistic universe.
So atheism has profound implications for both individuals
and society. But what really surprises me is that this rise of
atheism is coming at a time when scientific discoveries are
creating the strongest case in history for the existence of a
divine Creator. That is, the evidence for God is at its most
robust exactly when the atheists are trying to convince the
world that the divine is an illusion.
Lee Strobel has authored nearly 20 books, including The Case for Christ and
The Case for a Creator. He holds degrees in journalism from the University of
Missouri and in law from Yale. This essay is adapted from his chapel talk at the
Western Conservative Summit on July 11, 2010.
Centennial Institute sponsors research, events, and publications to enhance
public understanding of the most important issues facing our state and nation.
By proclaiming Truth, we aim to foster faith, family, and freedom, teach citizen-
ship, and renew the spirit of 1776.

That’s what I discovered when my agnostic wife became
a Christian and I was prompted to use my journalism
and legal training to investigate where the evidence of
contemporary science most powerfully points: toward
or away from God. Three areas of science captured my
attention then, and I’ve continued to explore them as even
more discoveries have been made.
First, there’s cosmology, the study of the origin of the
universe. For centuries, scientists believed that the universe
is eternal. But thanks to dramatic evidence discovered
over the last several decades, virtually all scientists are now
convinced that the universe, and time itself, had a sudden
beginning in the finite past. This leads to this argument:
• Whatever begins to exist has a cause.
• The universe began to exist.
• Therefore, the universe has a cause.
What kind of a cause could create a universe? The logical
implications of the evidence, as I describe in my book The
Case for a Creator, point toward an uncaused, beginningless,
timeless, immaterial, personal being endowed with freedom
of will and enormous power and intelligence. That’s a
pretty good starting point for a definition of God.
Who Decreed Gravity?
Nobel-winning physicist Arno Penzias, who helped
discover the evidence for the universe’s beginning, put it
this way: “The best data we have [concerning the origin of
the universe] are exactly what I would have predicted had I
nothing to go on but the five books of Moses, Psalms, and
the Bible as a whole.”3
Some skeptics try to counter this by saying, “Oh yeah?
Then who created God?” The answer, of course, is that
nobody created God. The argument isn’t, “Whatever exists
has a cause,” but, “Whatever begins to exist has a cause.”
God, by definition, is eternal.
Centennial Review, March 2011 ▪ 2
Atheists shouldn’t have a problem with the idea of
something being eternal, since they maintained—until the
evidence disproved them—that the universe is eternal. We
now know that’s not true and that the universe, therefore,
needs a cause to explain it.
Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking failed to shake
this argument in his recent book The Grand Design,
coauthored with Leonard Mlodinow. “Because there is a
law like gravity, the universe can and will create itself from
nothing,” they wrote. “Spontaneous creation is the reason
there is something rather than nothing, why the universe
exists, why we exist.”4
Alister McGrath, who has doctorates in both molecular
biophysics and theology from Oxford University, pointed
out the obvious:
Hawking tells us that we don’t need to invoke the idea
of a creator, because the laws of physics are already
there. Well, this is hardly anything new. But it simply
postpones the issue by one stage. Where did these
laws of physics come from? Who made them? How
did gravity come to exist in the first place? Who put it
there? What is the agency involved?5
Concluded Professor John Lennox, a fellow in mathematics
and the philosophy of science at Oxford: “Hawking’s new
fusillade cannot shake the foundations of a faith that is
based on evidence.”6
Dart on Target
The second category of science that I found compelling is
physics. One of the most striking discoveries of modern
science has been that the laws and constants of physics—
the numbers that govern the operation of the universe—
unexpectedly conspire in an extraordinary way to make the
universe habitable for life.
Imagine looking up into the sky and seeing a bunch of
giant dials that represent the laws and constants of physics.
Each one would have an enormous number of possible
settings, but all of them would be calibrated to the exact
correct position so that life can exist.
For example, the force of gravity is finely tuned to an
incomprehensible degree. How precise? Imagine a ruler
stretching across the width of the entire universe—billions
of light years—and broken down into one-inch increments.
This reasonably represents the range in which the force of
gravity could have been set.
CENTENNIAL REVIEW is published monthly by the Centennial Institute at
Colorado Christian University. The authors’ views are not necessarily those of
CCU. Designer, Danielle Hull. Illustrator, Benjamin Hummel. Subscriptions free
upon request. Write to: Centennial Institute, 8787 W. Alameda Ave., Lakewood,
CO 80226. Call 800.44.FAITH. Or visit us online at www.CentennialCCU.org.
Please join the Centennial Institute today. As a Centennial
donor, you can help us restore America’s moral core and prepare
tomorrow’s leaders. Your gift is tax-deductible. Please use the
envelope provided. Thank you for your support.
- John Andrews, Director
Yet it is set at the exact right place for life to flourish. If
you were to change the setting just one inch compared to
the width of the entire universe, intelligent life would be
impossible anywhere.7
That’s just one of more than 30 parameters that require
precise calibration for a life-sustaining world. Another
is the “cosmological constant,” or the energy density of
space. This number has to be balanced on a razor’s edge
for life to exist. If it were large and positive, stars and
galaxies could never form; if it were large and negative, the
universe would collapse.
But scientists have determined
DNA points that it’s fine-tuned to one part in
100 million-billion-billion-billion
to a Creator. billion-billion. This would be like
going into space and throwing a
dart at the Earth and hitting a pre-determined bull’s eye
that’s one trillionth of a trillionth of an inch in diameter—
less than the width of a single atom.
This precision is mind-boggling! If you just consider
gravity and the cosmological constant, the fine-tuning is
to a precision of one part in 100 million-trillion-trillion
trillion-trillion-trillion-trillion. That’s the equivalent of one
atom in the entire universe.8
As Vera Kistiakowski, professor of physics emerita at
MIT and former president of the Association of Women
in Science, put it: “The exquisite order displayed by our
scientific understanding of the physical world calls for the
divine.”9
The only way atheists have attempted to dilute this case is
to claim that there’s actually an infinite number of invisible
universes. If the dials were spun randomly in each of them,
then the odds are that at least one would accidentally hit
the jackpot.
The problem is that the claim of an infinite number
of universes is based on only one of several possible
mathematical models that may or may not correspond to
the physical world. Indeed, there is absolutely no evidence
that these hypothetical universes actually exist—and if
they did, then they would have required a Creator as well.
A Message with Content
The third scientific development in recent years concerns
genetics. When scientists completed the mapping of the
human genome several years ago, then-President Clinton
said: “Today, we are learning the language in which God
created life.”10
He was right—DNA is quite literally language. Inside each
of our body’s 100 trillion cells is a strand of DNA that
would stretch six feet if uncoiled. It’s encoded with a four-
letter chemical alphabet that spells out the exact assembly
instructions for all the proteins from which our bodies are
made.
How does DNA point toward a Creator? A good analogy
is Carl Sagan’s book and movie Contact, in which scientists
Voices of CCU
AGNOSTIC NO MORE
By Karthik Venkatraj
The Christian journey is an experience
of redemption that is all-encompassing.
In light of Lee Strobel’s article, I want
to tell my own story.
Growing up in poverty in Brooklyn, I
was raised with an understanding that,
even though times were hard, there was
a sense of safety in God. Within the
context of a multi-religious family comprised of Hindus
and Christians, my parents raised me to choose my own
path; however, they encouraged me to believe in God; they
had seen too many miracles in their lives to deny Him.
An agnostic in my teens, I entered the Corps of Cadets
at Texas A&M University and experienced the intense
pressure of military training. Each cadet was to be “broken
down and built up.” In tribulation, the soul begins a journey
for truth and, for me, this culminated in accepting Christ as
my savior.
This epiphany was met with challenges. On a trip to
Morocco with the Department of Defense, my faith was
challenged by my classmates and some of the Muslim
students we encountered. After that formative summer, I
revealed to my parents that I had accepted Christ. Struggling
with the division this produced in our family, I learned that
accepting Christ involves not only an acknowledgement of
His existence, but also a submission to His omnipotence.
In time, the division was healed.
After graduating in 2010, I wrestled with several
opportunities. My desire for a classical education with a
Christian worldview brought me to the John Jay Fellowship
for a year of studying the intersection of faith and public
policy, which concludes with my internship here at CCU.
I pray to continue serving our nation as a citizen and a
soldier, always to God’s glory. ■
Karthik Venkatraj, currently a Centennial
Centennial
Institute staffer, was commissioned last year as
Institute
a 2nd lieutenant in the Army Reserve and antici-
pates deployment to Afghanistan next year. His
Colorado Christian University
parents emigrated from India in 1982.
are scanning the heavens with radiotelescopes in search of
extraterrestrial life. They only receive static, the random
background noise of the universe. It was reasonable to
assume there’s no intelligence behind that. Then one day,
they begin to pick up prime numbers.
Scientists reason that it’s too improbable that there would
be a natural cause behind a string of numbers like that.
This wasn’t disorganized static; this was information, a
message with content. From that, they correctly concluded
there must be intelligence behind it.
Centennial Review, March 2011 ▪ 3
 Centennial Review
March 2011
Creator’s Hand,
Unseen to Atheists,
Is Evident to Scientists
By Lee Strobel
If true, the fashionable denial
that God exists could negate
our liberty, our identity, and our
morality. But scientific evidence
in support of the case for a
Creator is mounting.
Sagan, himself an atheist, acknowledged that the receipt
of a single message from space would be enough to know
there’s intelligence out there.11
But what is DNA? It’s a message with content. It’s
language. Just like English uses a 26-letter alphabet, DNA
uses a four-letter chemical alphabet. In fact, each cell in
our bodies contains as many “words” as 75,490 pages of
The New York Times. These are the specific, detailed, written
instructions for how to build all the proteins in the human
body. Where did they come from?
If a single message from space is enough for us to conclude
there’s an intelligence behind it, then what about this vast
amount of information contained in the DNA of every
living creature?
Rookie Mistake
Nature, by itself, can produce patterns, but it can’t produce
information. If someone walking on a beach saw ripples in
the sand, he could correctly conclude that this was caused
by waves. But if he saw, “John loves Mary” and a heart
with an arrow through it, he wouldn’t think that this was
created by natural processes.
Why? Because it’s information. And whenever we see
information—whether it’s a newspaper or a computer
code or a drawing in the sand—we invariably know there’s
intelligence behind it.12
As King David said in Psalm 139:13-14: “For you [God]
created my inmost being; you knit me together in my
mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and
wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that
full well.”
And there’s plenty of evidence from 21st-century
cosmology, physics, and genetics to know that full well.
Said nanoscientist James Tour of Rice University: “I stand
in awe of God because of what he has done through his
creation. Only a rookie who knows nothing about science
would say science takes away from faith. If you really study
science, it will bring you closer to God.”13
Centennial Review, March 2011 ▪ 4
Centennial Institute
Colorado Christian University
8787 W. Alameda Ave.
Lakewood, CO 80226
Return Service Requested
That’s not just the conclusion of theists with a predisposition
to believe. The scientific evidence was instrumental for
even a spiritual skeptic like me to conclude that there is,
indeed, a Creator.
And because God exists, we do have unalienable rights
like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that can’t be
stripped away by the whim of the party in power; we have
been made in God’s image, which gives us dignity, value,
and equality; and there are moral absolutes that we can
depend upon to guide us. ■
1 Drew Dyck, “The Leavers: Young Doubters Exit the Church,” www.christianity-
today.com/ct/2010/november/27.40.html
2 John D. Steinrucken, “Secularism’s Ongoing Debt to Christianity,” www.ameri-
canthinker.com/2010/03/secularisms_ongoing_debt_to_ch.html
3 See: Malcolm W. Browne, “Clues to Universe Origin Expected”, New York Times
(March 12, 1978).
4 Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, The Grand Design (New York: Bantam,
2010), 180.
5 Alister McGrath, “Stephen Hawking, God and the Role of Science,” www.abc.
net.au/religion/articles/2010/09/14/3011163.htm?topic1=home&topic2
6 John Lennox, “As a Scientist, I’m Certain Stephen Hawking is Wrong,” www.
dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1308599/Stephen-Hawking-wrong-You-explain-
universe-God.html
7 See interview with Dr. Robin Collins in Lee Strobel, The Case for a Creator (Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2004), 125-152.
8 Ibid.
9 Vera Kistiakowski, “The Exquisite Order of the Physical World Calls for the Di-
vine,” in Henry Margenau and Roy Abraham Varghese, editors, Cosmos, Bios, Theos
(Chicago: Open Court, 1992), 52.
10 Francis S. Collins, The Language of God (New York: Free Press, 2006), 2.
11 See: Carl Sagan, “The Quest for Extraterrestrial Intelligence,” www.bigear.org/
vol1no2/sagan.htm.
12 See: Stephen C. Meyer, Signature in the Cell (New York: HarperOne, 2010).
13 Candace Adams, “Leading Nanoscientist Builds Big Faith,” Baptist Standard
(March 15, 2002).
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND
Western Conservative Summit 2011
"Fulfilling America's Promise"
Denver • July 29-31 • Marriott City Center
Details at CentennialCCU.org