Anticipating the anniversary of the Apollo 8 Christmas Eve message, astrophysicist Guillermo Gonzalez and philosopher of science Stephen Meyer comment for National Review and drive home the key point. In 1968, the crew of three astronauts spoke to a billion people on Earth, in a live telecast from lunar orbit, and chose the moment to recite the opening sentences of the book of Genesis.

Much as the world appreciated the “noble and poetic moment,” at the time it could be waved away as mere poetry — more sentiment than science. That has changed, because we know more now about the science of intelligent design and the evidence of a designer.

From “Apollo 8 and Our Privileged Planet”:

Of course, many scientists and others dismiss such perceptions as mere sentiment. Yet scientific evidence has increasingly confirmed what the astronauts, and many who heard them, intuitively sensed on seeing the image of Earth from space.

Dr. Gonzalez and Dr. Meyer explain that the argument for design isn’t what it used to be: it’s much stronger than it was a half century ago. Of course this is lost in all the other commemorations on the event you’ll see out there. They conclude powerfully, “Our planet is, indeed, privileged, and we are not alone.” It’s a beautiful article, and we are right to be stunned by the accumulation of evidence. Read the rest here. 

Gonzalez is the co-author of The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery. Meyer’s forthcoming book is The Return of the God Hypothesis.

Photo: Crew of Apollo 8, James A. Lovell Jr., William A. Anders, Frank Borman, by NASA [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.