Appendix B: The Cosmological and Fine-Tuning Arguments

The Kalam Cosmological Argument

1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause
2. The universe began to exist — confirmed by Big Bang cosmology and the Second Law of Thermodynamics
3. Therefore the universe has a cause that is timeless, uncaused, immensely powerful, and personal

The Fine-Tuning Argument

The physical constants of the universe are calibrated to a precision that permits life. The probability of this occurring by chance is astronomically small. The inference to a designer is at least as rational as the inference to chance.

• Gravitational constant — calibrated to one part in 10^60
• Cosmological constant — calibrated to one part in 10^120
• Carbon resonance level (Hoyle's prediction) — required for carbon-based life to exist
• Roger Penrose's calculation: the probability of the universe's initial low-entropy state is 1 in 10^(10^123)

Key Texts

• John Lennox, God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God? (Lion, 2007)
• Robin Collins, "The Teleological Argument" in The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology
• Paul Davies, The Goldilocks Enigma
• Stephen Barr, Modern Physics and Ancient Faith