Coyne is clear in his argument that to understand the cosmos there is no need of a “Creator.” What science says about the temporal nature of our own solar system, in fact, renders more than improbable the existence of a divine plan for humanity. “Human tenure on Earth,” he writes, “will end when the sun … vaporize[s] the Earth in less than five billion years,” while the universe “will also end [through] heat death,” with temperatures falling to absolute zero. What does this say for those who insist there’s a divine plan for mankind on Earth? The “God of the gaps,” Coyne argues, is losing out as science fills in the missing pieces.

This rationalist understanding of life might seem cold. But Coyne isn’t out to be heartless, and recognizes the consolation religion can provide. “Your grandmother is on her deathbed,” he writes, “and is deeply consoled by thinking that she’ll soon be in heaven, reunited with her late husband and ancestors. You don’t believe a bit of it, but refrain from saying anything. What’s wrong with that?” Nothing, of course. But there’s no guarantee that faith will always be so anodyne, as he makes apparent in recounting the case of Ashley King.