This month, Examiner.com has been profiling “noted atheists who experienced dramatic shifts in their views, eventually becoming Christians.” This week, it has a story about Douglas Ell, a former atheist who has undergraduate degrees in math and chemistry, and an MA in theoretical mathematics from the University of Maryland.
Using his advanced knowledge of mathematical analysis, combined with the latest science, Ell came up with probability calculations which were incredible: practical proof, he concluded, of a designed and ordered universe. Sitting with his friend Peter Fisher one evening, Ell told him, “You know, someone should write a book about this, because I’m finding modern science strongly supports belief in God.” Fisher, who is now head of the physics department at MIT, responded, “Maybe that someone could be you.”
Thus inspired, Ell poured out his findings into his book, Counting to God, which takes the more theoretical elements and breaks them down to an understandable level, where Ell hoped to show the beauty he saw in science and math to the eyes of each and every reader.
Douglas Ell: how an MIT atheist found God through math