“In all this debunking of religion, a persistent background assumption is that the physical universe is pointless because nothing of lasting importance seems to be going on there. As it turns out, however, something has been going on in the universe, something undeniably and dramatically important. The drama began long before humans came along, and it is still in play. During the past two centuries, science has gradually presented the universe for all to see as a grand adventure, full of twists and turns we never knew about until recently. And today science allows ample room for even more surprises up ahead. As the cosmos has developed over billions of years, entirely new kinds of being—most notably life and thought—have emerged. These are two cosmic developments that none of us could have predicted had we been around to witness the inauspicious elemental state of the early universe. Since even more surprising developments may be waiting to take place farther along on the cosmic journey, therefore, the contemporary secularist verdict that the universe is manifestly pointless, that evolution is a meaningless experiment, and that religion is illusory, may be premature. The story of the universe, after all, is not over.”
– John F. Haught, The New Cosmic Story