God did it

Overview

The phrase God did it summarizes a large number of answers offered by monotheistic religion (especially Christianity) as alternatives to scientific explanations. As an answer, it is both a fake explanation and a curiosity stopper.

Fake Explanation

The answer "God did it" does not explain anything, and only opens up more questions: How did God do it? How do we know (or why do we believe) that God did it? Why did God do it? How do we know that God didn't do it using methods (or leaving evidence) discoverable by science? Why do we believe that God did it if we have evidence of a more believable explanation?

Curiosity Stopper

The answer "God did it" does more to stop curiosity than it does to encourage it, because the obvious follow-up questions (see above) all fall into areas into which religion strongly discourages inquiry and, indeed, into which no objective inquiry is really possible, since there is no known reliable means of detecting the existence of God, much less studying God or God's activities. As an answer, it is equivalent to saying "that involves things which nobody was meant to understand" -- an idea sharply antithetical to curiosity and the spirit of scientific investigation.