Why science does not replace God but points beyond itself

“Science and religion are not in conflict. They are friends, and they need each other.” – John Polkinghorne, Theoretical physicist and former professor at Cambridge University

Many people today assume that science and Christianity are in conflict. The idea is everywhere. You hear it in classrooms, online videos, and social media comments. Science explains how the world works, while religion is seen as something people believed before we knew better. According to this view, as science grows, belief in God should shrink.

At first, this sounds reasonable. Science has helped us understand the universe in extraordinary ways. We know the age of stars, the structure of DNA, the expansion of space, and the complexity of the human brain. None of that should be ignored or feared. But the real question is not whether science explains things. It clearly does. The question is whether explaining how something works means there is no reason behind it.

“The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. He can be worshiped in the cathedral or in the laboratory.” – Francis S. Collins, Physician geneticist and former director of the Human Genome Project

Science is incredibly powerful, but it has limits. Science tells us how processes happen, but it cannot tell us why anything exists at all. It can describe chemical reactions, but it cannot explain why the universe exists for chemistry to operate in the first place. It can measure the laws of nature, but it cannot explain where those laws came from or why they exist at all.

A simple illustration helps. Imagine reading a novel and understanding the grammar, vocabulary, and structure of every sentence. You could explain how the book works in detail. But none of that would explain why the story exists or who wrote it. Knowing how words function does not eliminate the author. In the same way, understanding the mechanics of the universe does not eliminate the possibility of a mind behind it.

Some people argue that God was only invented to explain what science had not yet figured out. This idea is often called the “God of the gaps.” But Christian belief is not built on ignorance. It is not saying, “We don’t know how this works, so God must have done it.” Christianity claims something much deeper. It claims that the universe exists at all because it was created by God, not because we lack scientific explanations.

The more science discovers, the more surprising the universe becomes. The laws of physics are incredibly precise. If gravity, the strength of forces, or the conditions of the early universe were slightly different, life would not exist. Science can measure this fine tuning, but it cannot explain why the universe is set up this way in the first place.

“Science helps us understand how the universe works, but it does not answer the question of why it exists or why we are here.” – Jennifer Wiseman, Astrophysicist and former senior scientist at NASA

Many scientists recognize this tension. Even those who do not believe in God admit that the universe appears strangely ordered and mathematically elegant. Mathematics, something discovered by the human mind, describes the physical world with remarkable accuracy. That raises an important question. Why should the universe be understandable at all?

Christianity offers an answer. If the universe comes from a rational mind, then it makes sense that it operates in rational ways. The order of nature reflects the order of its source. Historically, this belief is actually what motivated the rise of modern science. Early scientists believed the universe could be studied precisely because it was created by a consistent and intelligent God.

Science depends on assumptions it cannot prove. It assumes the universe is orderly. It assumes our minds can understand reality. It assumes the laws of nature are consistent tomorrow as they are today. These are not scientific conclusions. They are philosophical foundations that science rests upon.

Christian belief does not compete with science. It provides a reason why science works at all. It says the universe is not an accident without meaning, but a creation that can be explored, studied, and understood.

None of this means science answers every question. Science cannot tell you whether love has meaning, whether forgiveness matters, or whether your life has purpose. It cannot tell you why beauty moves you or why injustice feels wrong. Those questions lie outside the tools of science, not because science is weak, but because it was never designed to answer them.

“The more we learn about the universe, the more it invites us to ask deeper questions about meaning and purpose.” – Deborah Haarsma, Astronomer

Christianity does not ask you to reject science. It asks you to see its limits. Science is an incredible tool for discovering how the world works. Faith addresses questions science cannot reach. Together, they describe different aspects of the same reality.

When science is treated as the only way to know truth, it quietly becomes something it was never meant to be. It turns from a method into a belief system. Ironically, that is no longer science. It is philosophy.

Science can tell us how the universe behaves. Christianity asks why there is a universe at all and what it means to live within it. These are not competing answers. They are answers to different kinds of questions.

If science reveals a universe that is ordered, intelligible, and finely balanced for life, that does not point away from God. It may point beyond itself.

The deeper we look into reality, the more the question remains. Why is there something rather than nothing? Science can explore the “how,” but it cannot escape the “why.” And that question still stands before every thinking person.

“Science explains how the heavens go. God explains why there are heavens at all.” – John Lennox, Mathematician and philosopher of science, University of Oxford

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Table Talk

Why do you think people often assume science and Christianity must be in conflict?
Does explaining how something works remove the need for a reason behind it?
What questions do you think science cannot answer?
Do you think science works better in a meaningful universe or a meaningless one?
If the universe appears ordered and understandable, what might that suggest?

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Further Reading Suggestions

Stephen C Meyer, Return of the God Hypothesis
Alister McGrath, Science and Religion: A New Introduction