Black holes and God and us

In his recently published book Light in the Darkness: Black Holes, The Universe and Us, the renowned astrophysicist and radio astronomer professor Heino Falcke writes on science and the Christian faith. He does not understand the two as opposites, but as necessary complements. Falcke, who teaches and researches at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, succeeded in taking the first picture of a black hole. He was awarded the Spinoza Prize for this significant scientific breakthrough, which he achieved in a leading position in the international Event Horizon project.

Falcke says that the question of the origin of the world cannot be answered with the laws of nature alone. In contrast to Stephen Hawkins, he believes that atheism cannot be substantiated scientifically; rather, the attempt to prove with the help of physics that there is no God is a circular argument, because the question of God does not belong to the objects of research in physics. Just as the existence of black holes show that limits are part of our world, so too the questions about the origin of the world and about God mark the limits of physics. Falcke states that anyone who dares to ask beyond the limit of physics cannot get past God. While he does not attempt to prove the existence of God, he concludes from his research that it is much more likely that there is a personal God behind this universe than understanding the world as a programmed computer simulation.

This scientific book, which presents research results on black holes, concludes with a personal confession: ‘For me, God is not something, but someone. … I experience him alone in prayer, in celebrating communion, in looking up to Jesus and in the greatness and beauty of the universe.’

Klaus Bensel