'Big Bang Theory' Spinoff 'Young Sheldon' Offers Scientific Explanation for Why God Exists
A new episode of CBS' "Young Sheldon" offers a scientific explanation for why belief in a creator is logical.
The spinoff of the hit series "The Big Bang Theory" aired last Thursday in an episode titled, "A Crisis of Faith and Octopus Aliens."
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The show began with a family visit to their home church. During the service, nine-year-old Sheldon interrupts the pastor to ask if Jesus came to save the octopus aliens in other planets as well? They agreed that Jesus came to save everyone in the universe but if aliens do not have sin then they do not need atonement.
As the episode progresses, we see Sheldon's overly protective and loving mother, Mary (Zoe Perry), who's an evangelical Christian, battle with news she received that the teenage daughter of her friend was killed in a car accident.
Her pastor advised her to serve others as a way to get out of her grief. Mary also created a faith garden to pray outdoors to help her healing process, but when she finally made her supplication to God about the death of her friend she comes to a head with her sadness and spirals downward.
The woman of faith finds herself doubting why it would be in God's plan for a young girl to die. She begins drinking, and stops praying at supper or even going to church.
Eventually, young Sheldon noticed something was wrong with his mother and although he doesn't believe in God he had always respected her values.
"Mom I'm scared, you didn't go to church you stop saying grace and I don't understand what's going on," Sheldon told his mother in season two episode three.
His mom revealed that what she is going through is hard to explain, but when Sheldon indicated that he thought he is to blame, she admitted that she's having a crisis of faith.
"Faith means believing in something you can't know for sure is real, and right now I am struggling with that," Mary told her boy.
He asked, "So you don't believe in God anymore?"
Sheldon then insisted that he wanted to help his mother by providing a fresh perspective.
"Did you know that if gravity was slightly more powerful the universe would collapse into a ball? Also if gravity was slightly less powerful the universe would fly apart and there's be no star or planets," he explained.
Adding, "Gravity is precisely as strong as it needs to be and if the ratio of the electromagnetic force to the strong force wasn't one percent, life wouldn't exist, what are the odds that would happen all by itself?"
When asked why he is trying to convince his mother that there is a God when he doesn't believe himself, Sheldon responded, "I don't but the precision of the universe at least makes it logical to conclude there's a creator."
Still a skeptic, Mary confessed that her issue is not a logical one but more so a heart one.
"Well there are 5 billion people on this planet and you're the perfect mom for me. What are the odds of that?" Sheldon concluded.
His final remark compelled his mother to grab him and pray to God a prayer of thanks for her son. The episode ended with the family back at church.
In both "Young Sheldon" and "The Big Bang Theory," Sheldon is portrayed as loving his mother but at odds with her creationist views.
Sheldon is a senior theoretical physicist in the first 10 seasons of "The Big Bang Theory," and is pegged a "skeptical agnostic" because of comments made on the show like, "Oh, deity, whose existence I doubt, why has thou forsaken me?"
Nevertheless, the character's religious upbringing is reflected in the adult version of the show from time to time. In another episode, he praises God after making a strike in bowling by shouting "Praise Jesus!" Then sheepishly adds "as my mother would say."
