Framework of understanding
Part 2: What does this mean for faith?
The universe came into being without God. Although the design argument for God’s existence has been very seriously undermined by evolution, the cosmological argument for his existence is still strong: how can something come from nothing? However – perhaps counter-intuitively – scientists seem very confident that the universe came into being entirely through the natural laws of science; it did not need a spiritual entity outside of the universe to bring it into being.
Likewise, we were not created by God, and there is no design or purpose behind our existence; we simply came into being through the blind chance of evolution.
Therefore, God is not the foundation of our existence. We do not need him at all. There is no need to posit the existence of God in order to explain our existence.
However, the experience of God is something that people have. It is a real something, and it needs an explanation. If God is not the foundation of our existence, nevertheless he is encountered within our existence. The experience of God is something that we discover within the reality caused by the Big Bang and evolution.
It is possible that God may still exist exactly as believers have always said. Scientists correctly show that God is not needed for us to exist, but it’s possible that a spiritual reality exists in addition to material reality. However, science can say nothing about this, as it is outside the scope of science to investigate. However, in our arguing from the atheist’s side of the debate, we have to admit that there is no reason for science to accept that there is a spiritual reality – there is simply no evidence, and belief in God is just speculation – and we are trying to give faith a completely sound foundation within ultimate reality of what can be known – which is the Big Bang and evolution.
Spiritual Devotion 