Letters from an Astrophysicist

by Neil deGrasse Tyson

I think often about what would constitute evidence for God. How about if, after adjusting for income and access to health care, pious people all lived longer than non-pious people? How about when a plane crashes, only the pious people survive? How about Jesus comes when people say he will come? (His second coming has been predicted by Christians for hundreds of occasions that have already passed, spanning the last 2000 years.) How about people pray for peace, and then all wars in the world stop permanently? How about good things happen exclusively to good people and bad things happen exclusively to bad people? How about an earthquake strikes Portugal on All Saints Day, while everyone is in Church, as it did in 1755, and it kills only people who are not in Church, rather than the tens of thousands of people who were, as what actually happened that fateful morning. These events would trigger serious (scientific) conversation about the existence of God and how he treats people who worship him versus those who do not.