I have a theory that there are no true atheists. That everyone, deep inside, believes that God exists. Somewhere in all of us is a flame of hope—that this life is not the whole story. That when we die we will continue to exist as more than just atoms and a memory in the minds of those we leave behind.

There’s nothing to be lost by admitting to ourselves that we know very little about the nature of reality. It’s perfectly reasonable to believe that God exists in some way. It’s perfectly reasonable to believe the order and intelligence of the universe are no accident. The chances of it being an accident are so low that no one would take that bet if there were large consequences for being wrong.

As Robert Lanza wrote:

“The laws of physics seem to be exactly balanced for life to exist. For example, if the Big Bang had been one-part-in-a-million more powerful, the cosmos would have rushed out too fast for the galaxies and stars to have developed. There are over 200 physical parameters like this that could have any value but happen to be exactly right for us to be here. These fundamental constants of the universe aren’t predicted by any theory — all seem to be carefully chosen to allow for the existence of life and consciousness.”

The Big Bang Theory may be true (though even this is shrouded in doubt: one example here), but what happened before the Big Bang? Where did the matter come from that caused the Big Bang? How was there once nothing and then something? It’s about as easy to comprehend as being attracted to a frog. As neuroscientist David Eagleman said, “there are thoughts you cannot think”.

Everything is a miracle. The mere fact that we’re here, in all our complexity, is a miracle. If it’s all by chance why does chance itself exist? Why should there be any natural laws at all? Why aren’t they random and subject to constant change?

As Einstein once said (about quantum mechanics), “God does not play dice with the universe.” He may have meant that metaphorically, but if God doesn’t exist why doesn’t nature play dice?