Does God exist in the age of science? That’s the question asked in Iain Morris’ documentary Against the Tide: Finding God in an Age of Science. It’s not lost on me that the majority of our readers will answer this question with a resounding “No!” Against The Tide is very much pro-God and pro-Christianity. I mention this upfront only to manage expectations.
The documentary puts Hercules and God’s Not Dead actor Kevin Sorbo in the role of host, as he travels to Oxford to interview famed mathematician and Christian apologist John Lennox. You may know Lennox from his series of The God Delusion debates, now on YouTube. Lennox argues God’s existence with famed atheists Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Michael Shermer.
“…makes that case that science and religion are not mutually exclusive…”
In Against the Tide, Lennox walks Sorbo through his arguments used during The God Delusion debates, injects various clips that exist online, and responds to quotes from Stephen Hawking.
The film starts with a meeting at The Eagle and Child pub in Oxford where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien once met and discussed their faith and writings. The significance of this location is a profound one. While Tolkien was religious most of his life, C.S. Lewis was a devout atheist until late in life and claimed to have found faith in God after his logical pursuit to prove there is no God (see Lewis’ book Surprised by Joy).
Sorbo and Lennox’s conversion is split into four parts: how the cosmos proves God’s existence, evolution vs. creationism, the consciousness unique to humans, and the Jesus question. Lennox makes that case that science and religion are not mutually exclusive and that science, by its very nature, must have a creator. In other words, religion was not created in the absence of science but is very much a complement to science.
"…does God exist, and what role does Jesus Christ play?"
