Det finns religiösa människor som med fysikens hjälp tror sig kunna fastslå att en viss gud existerar. De har formulerat ett s.k. fine-tuning argument:

(P1) The combination of physical constants that we observe in our universe is the only one capable of sustaining life as we know it.
(P2) Other combinations of physical constants are conceivable.
(C3) Therefore, some explanation is needed why our actual combination of physical constants exists rather than a different one.
(P4) The very best explanation of the given fact is that our universe, with the particular combination of physical constants that it has, was created out of nothing by a single being who is omnipotent, omniscient, all-loving, eternal, and interested in sentient organic systems, and that he ”fine-tuned” those constants in a way which would lead to the evolution of such systems.
(P5) But such a being as described in (P4) is what people mean by ”God.”
(C6) Hence [from (P4) & (P5)], there is good evidence that God exists.

Nu visar ny forskning att antagandet om att det existerar en enda kombination av fysiska konstanter (α) kanske inte håller:

Why alpha takes on the precise value it has, so delicately fine-tuned for life, is a deep scientific mystery. A new piece of astrophysical research may, however, have uncovered a crucial piece of the puzzle. In a paper just submitted to Physical Review Letters, a team led by John Webb and Julian King from the University of New South Wales in Australia present evidence that the fine-structure constant may not actually be constant after all. Rather, it seems to vary from place to place within the universe. If their results hold up to the scrutiny, and can be replicated, they will have profound implications—for they suggest that the universe stretches far beyond what telescopes can observe, and that the laws of physics vary within it. Instead of the whole universe being fine-tuned for life, then, humanity finds itself in a corner of space where, Goldilocks-like, the values of the fundamental constants happen to be just right for it.

(C3) tycks dubiös om denna teori stämmer, eftersom andra α-värden då faktiskt existerar i andra delar av universum. Vi råkar helt enkelt befinna oss i den del där värdet tillåter liv; på annat håll gör värdet inte det, och liv finns följaktligen inte heller där. Nå, det som slår mig är behovet av ödmjukhet. Det är så mycket om dessa komplexa och fundamentala frågor som vetenskapen inte har kunnat klarlägga.

Se även ”Vetenskapligt bevis för guds existens?”, ”Är universum finjusterat?” och ”Bristfälligt gudsbevis”.