Is the concept of multiple universes, or the “multiverse,” compatible with a Christian worldview? Young-earth creationist Ken Ham says the answer is a clear, “No.”
“There is no ‘multiverse,’” writes Ham in a blog published on Jan. 4, 2022. “This idea is based in atheistic, naturalistic beliefs about the origin of the universe, not on the eyewitness account of history God has given us in his Word.”
Ken Ham is the founder of Answers in Genesis, an apologetics ministry located in Petersburg, Ky., that focuses on the Book of Genesis in the Bible. He is also the founder of the Creation Museum and the life-size Ark Encounter, in Petersburg and Williamstown, Ky., respectively.
Ham wrote his article in response to a different article published three weeks ago in Live Science, titled “How real is the multiverse?” The author is Paul Sutter, a research professor in astrophysics at SUNY Stony Brook University and the Flatiron Institute in New York City. In his post, Sutter wonders, “Is there another you out there, reading this exact same article?”
Ken Ham: The Multiverse Is Unbiblical
According to Brittanica, the “multiverse” is “a hypothetical collection of potentially diverse observable universes, each of which would comprise everything that is experimentally accessible by a connected community of observers.”
In a separate Live Science article, Sutter explains the multiverse in this way:
Multiverse theory suggests that our universe, with all its hundreds of billions of galaxies and almost countless stars, spanning tens of billions of light-years, may not be the only one. Instead, there may be an entirely different universe, distantly separated from ours — and another, and another. Indeed, there may be an infinity of universes, all with their own laws of physics, their own collections of stars and galaxies (if stars and galaxies can exist in those universes), and maybe even their own intelligent civilizations.
It could be that our universe is just one member of a much grander, much larger multitude of universes: a multiverse.
In “How real is the multiverse?” Sutter writes that the multiverse “might be a natural prediction of the physical theories that define the beginning of the universe. Or it might not. It’s tough to say, as new research has shown.” He goes on to describe research focused on the theories of inflation and eternal inflation.
Cosmic inflation is “the theory that the universe underwent a brief period of exponential expansion shortly after the Big Bang.” “Eternal inflation” posits that certain pockets of the universe stopped expanding, but others parts of it have not—indicating multiple universes might exist. In a nutshell, says Sutter, “If inflation is correct, then eternal inflation is also likely correct, and the multiverse might be real.”
Ken Ham notes that the idea of the multiverse has been “popularized in recent movies and shows.” Examples that portray or at least touch on this idea include “Dr. Strange,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
