Atheists love Charles Darwin. You’ll hear his name invoked constantly—quoted, admired, lionized. Why? Because he gave them something they desperately wanted: a theory of life’s origin that didn’t involve God. Darwin’s theory of evolution for many atheists, became a kind of creation myth that excluded the Creator.
But here’s what’s fascinating: for all their praise of Darwin, atheists are strangely silent about the other major scientific theory that they claim to love—the Big Bang Theory. Why? Because the man who proposed it was not just a scientist and astronomer… he was a Roman Catholic priest.
That’s right. The father of the Big Bang Theory, Georges Lemaître, was a Belgian priest and physicist. His theory that the universe had a beginning—a “primeval atom” expanding outward—was originally rejected by many leading atheistic scientists of the day. Why? Because it sounded too much like Genesis.
In fact, the dominant atheistic view back then was the Steady State Theory, which claimed the universe had always existed. Eternal, unchanging, self-generating. Sound familiar? It’s the perfect materialist backdrop: no beginning, no end, no need for a God. So when Lemaître’s idea gained traction, the atheists panicked. Some even accused him of trying to sneak religion into science.
Fast forward a few decades, and guess what? The evidence overwhelmingly supported the Big Bang. The steady state model was dead in the water. The very theory they had mocked as “creationist” turned out to be the best-supported cosmological model we have.
And now? Silence. You never hear them admit they opposed the Big Bang. You never hear them talk about Lemaître. It’s all conveniently memory-holed. No plaques, no Reddit threads celebrating his genius. Why not? Because it’s embarrassing. Because it reminds them they were on the wrong side of science—and that the universe did have a beginning after all.
And beginnings always raise uncomfortable questions.
So here’s the real question: if atheists claim to follow science wherever it leads, why are they so quiet about the actual history of the Big Bang theory?
Could it be that the real issue was never science vs. religion—but the misguided pride of the Godless?
