"The oxygen that we breathe is generated by the process of photosynthesis in the chloroplasts of green plants, a process that is energized by the light from the sun.
Remarkably, the radiation emitted by the sun exhibits several remarkable coincidences that make life possible.
Many forms of radiation make up the electromagnetic spectrum, each possessing a different wavelength. Within the inconceivably vast range of the electromagnetic spectrum, there exists a small band of radiation that possesses the right energy levels for photochemistry — allowing us to see and green plants to photosynthesize.
This corresponds to the visual band, together with the near ultraviolet and near infrared wavelengths that are closely adjacent to it. This band represents such an incredibly small fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum that it is difficult to do it justice.
The visual region of the spectrum represents a miniscule fraction of this, lying between wavelengths of 380 and 750 nm in length. Put another way, “the ‘right light’ would be only a few seconds in a time-span one hundred million times longer than the age of the Earth, or a few playing cards in a stack stretching beyond the galaxy of Andromeda — a fraction so small as to be beyond ordinary human comprehension.”
The visual region of the spectrum represents a miniscule fraction of this, lying between wavelengths of 380 and 750 nm in length. Put another way, “the ‘right light’ would be only a few seconds in a time-span one hundred million times longer than the age of the Earth, or a few playing cards in a stack stretching beyond the galaxy of Andromeda — a fraction so small as to be beyond ordinary human comprehension.”
It is a remarkable coincidence, then, that nearly half of the radiation emitted by the sun lies within this visual region.
Photosynthesis is absolutely essential to the existence of advanced life forms. And yet it is easy to imagine a plethora of scenarios where, if our universe were just slightly different, photosynthesis could not take place, and no aerobic forms of life could exist.
Photosynthesis is absolutely essential to the existence of advanced life forms. And yet it is easy to imagine a plethora of scenarios where, if our universe were just slightly different, photosynthesis could not take place, and no aerobic forms of life could exist.
Since advanced life is not particularly surprising given theism but extremely surprising given naturalism, this evidence tends to confirm the existence of a creator."
EN&V
