Do Christians have to check their science or their brains at the church door? Michael Egnor, a leading brain surgeon, used to think so. After years of rigorous scientific training, he was sure a scientific worldview was incompatible with any form of religion. Ironically, it was science itself that showed him how mistaken he was.

Engor was raised as an agnostic who regarded Christianity as an inspiring set of moral tales—lessons that were spiritually uplifting but not true. Why was he so certain? Engor explained, "As a science major in college, I was steeped in Darwinian evolution, which seemed to demonstrate that life could be explained perfectly well by material mechanisms alone. There was no reason to invoke God." Egnor's studies also covered Freud, whose theories persuaded him that "religion is wish fulfillment." He continued, "Every time I even considered Christianity, I was stopped cold by the thought that it would mean abandoning scientific integrity."

Over the years, Egnor rose to the top of his field. He was appointed professor and vice president of neurosurgery at Stony Brook University and became an award-winning brain surgeon, named one of New York's best doctors by New York Magazine. One of his specialties is the treatment of hydrocephalus ("water on the brain"), and while developing a theory of blood flow to the brain, his research took a surprising turn. He realized the cranial system he was studying was like an ingeniously designed gadget. The filter that protects the delicate capillaries from the pulsating force of the heartbeat is a finely tuned mechanism like the vibration dampers widely used in engineering. "In fact," Engor said, "most of what I needed to know was not in biology textbooks but in engineering textbooks."

Eventually Egnor realized that virtually all biological research operates on the presumption of design. That presumption led him to faith in a Designer and then to faith in Christ as the Designer in human flesh.