Alister McGrath, author of A Fine-Tuned Universe, was a “rottweiler sort” of atheist in his younger years. However, after attending university, McGrath discovered that God was more exciting that he initially thought, and became a Christian. As he began to think about the intersection between science and religion, he saw that their interactions were far more complicated than a simple clash of two incompatible ideas.

As McGrath says in this interview with CBC show The Hour:

“I began to realize actually that if you do believe in God it kind of gives a new intellectual depth to science and really makes it more interesting, more engaging. I began to realize actually that if you believe in God it gives you reasons to look at science in much more detail, but also brings more excitement, more depth to your science.”

Furthermore, acceptance of Christian faith does not mean a rejection of modern scientific ideas such as evolution and the Big Bang. Faith can complement the knowledge that science provides:

“For me, science is very, very good at answering lots of questions but … not all questions. If you say to me let’s talk about how the universe came into existence, we can talk about that scientifically. If we start talking about another question like ‘What’s the point of life?’ or ‘Why are we here?’ that’s a different kind of question. I don’t think science answers that but I think there are answers we can find.”

For more on McGrath’s views on faith, Christianity, and evolution, as well as why atheists seem to be more prominent in modern society, be sure to watch the full interview.