Who’s Afraid of the Multiverse?
by Jeffrey A. Zweerink, Reasons to Believe (www.reasons.org),
2008, 66 pages, $6.67 (paperback), ISBN-13: 978-1-886653-46-1

One of the challenges that atheists bring to those who believe in God is the challenge of multi­verses. In simple terms, the multiverse concept suggests that our universe is only one of many universes.  Why multiple universes? Everyone realizes that the odds of such a complex universe as ours coming into existence by chance are extremely small. Adding unknown multiple universes increases the opportunities for chance to work. There are many versions of multiverse theory, but the basic idea is that our universe is just one of many, and that we exist because the conditions here allow water-based, carbon-based life to exist. Many other universes failed to achieve that success.

Jeff Zweerink has a Ph.D. from Iowa State in astrophysics. He has authored this booklet to help people understand what multiverse theory is about, and why it poses no threat to arguments for the existence of God. This short booklet does a very good job of explaining this subject field. After a brief explanation of what universes are, Zweerink explains four levels of multiverse theory and then assesses how multiverse impacts cosmological and design arguments. He then discusses scientific and philosophical difficulties with multiverse theory and points out the failures of the theory to meet the criteria for being serious science.

This is an excellent source for this subject. Suggestions are made about how to deal with multiverse theory and why the theory is not a threat to any apologetic argument for God’s existence or the validity of the Christian system.
 

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