The Origin of the Universe
The Origin of the Universe
When pressed on the fundamental question of why there is something rather than nothing, the atheist is forced into an intellectual corner. Science is built on the Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR), the intuition that things do not just happen; they have causes and explanations.
However, having rejected the necessary being (God) as the ground of existence, the atheist must conclude that the universe is a "brute fact." It either popped into existence from nothing without a cause, or it has existed eternally without explanation.
Both options are fatal to the atheistic claim of rationality. If the universe popped into existence from nothing, the atheist believes in a miracle (a creation event) without a miracle-worker. If they claim the universe is eternal, they contradict the standard model of big bang cosmology and the second law of thermodynamics (energy naturally spreads out and systems tend to become more disordered (higher entropy) over time), which point to a definite beginning.
By accepting the universe as a "brute fact," the atheist effectively stops doing science at the most critical moment, shrugging their shoulders and saying, "It just is."
Formal Argument
P1. If the universe began to exist, then the universe has an explanation/cause of its existence (at minimum, something sufficient for its coming-to-be).
P2. The universe began to exist.
C1. Therefore, the universe has an explanation/cause of its existence.
P3. Whatever explains the coming-to-be of spacetime cannot be located within the spacetime it explains (i.e., it is not a physical cause operating as one more event inside the universe).
C2. Therefore, the cause/explanation of the universe is not an intra-universe physical event and is, in that sense, transcendent to the universe’s spacetime.
Analogy
Imagine walking into a theater and seeing a film already playing. After a few minutes, someone claims, “This movie has been running forever; there was no beginning.” But the presence of opening credits, a plot sequence, and a narrative arc contradicts that claim.
Stories begin. Films start. If the universe has a temporal beginning, it stands in the same category as every other thing that begins, it requires an explanation external to itself. Denying a cause while affirming a beginning is like affirming a story without an author.