Majority of Americans are Skeptical about the Big Bang – But I’m Not. Here’s Why.

A very slim majority of Americans are skeptical of the Big Bang. Fifty one percent, to be exact. But not me.

I grew up hearing that the Big bang theory was a threat to Christianity. You might think that this came from white-haired, sanctimonious ministers who shouted anti-science agendas from behind antique pulpits, but you’d be wrong. People who don’t agree with my religious views are the ones who insist that science is the enemy of my faith. 

I had a classmate in grad school who insisted (loudly) that it is better to understand that the earth is really old than to believe in God. (Apparently, when you’re a grad student you can just interrupt the conversation to denounce personal beliefs.) I asked him why an old earth model was incompatible with Christianity and he couldn’t give me an answer, he just insisted that it was an affront to religion. I disagree.

Believe it, or not, I was attending a Baptist University when I learned to relax about the Big Bang. My physics professor explained the theory as well as someone could to a group of undergrads, and by the time he was done I realized that I had no reason to criticize it. Why on earth was the Big Bang theory considered a problem?

By all observations, the universe appears to be expanding, so it follows that all of it must have been smaller in the past. How much smaller? I don’t know. No one does. But it’s easy for me to imagine that the universe began with an explosion that forced space to grow in every direction. If God is all-powerful, then He is certainly allowed to create the universe this way. How about attributing the expanding universe to the God’s grand design? Makes sense to me.

You know who else wouldn’t be skeptical of the Big Bang? Monseigneur Georges Lemaître (d.1966), the first astronomer to theorize that the universe was expanding.

Did I mention that he was a priest? And that his work was approved by the pope?

There’s no skepticism of the Big bang in my book. I wasn’t around when the universe was created, so I don’t know how it happened, but why argue with science?

A few things to remember. 200 Nigerian girls were kidnapped last week by a man who intends to sell them into slavery. The situation in Ukraine is growing more bloody and more hopeless by the day. 260,000 people in my city are living in poverty.

We’ve got our work cut out for us. Meanwhile, the Big Bang theory isn’t hurting anyone.