LONDON, England (CNN) -- God did not create the universe, world-famous physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book that aims to banish a divine creator from physics.
Hawking says in his book "The Grand Design" that, given the existence of gravity, "the universe can and will create itself from nothing," according to an excerpt published Thursday in The Times of London.
"Spontaneous creation is the reason why there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist," he writes in the excerpt.
"It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper [fuse] and set the universe going," he writes.
His book -- as the title suggests -- is an attempt to answer "the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything," he writes, quoting Douglas Adams' cult science fiction romp, "The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper [fuse] and set the universe going.
--Stephen Hawking
His answer is "M-theory," which, he says, posits 11 space-time dimensions, "vibrating strings, ... point particles, two-dimensional membranes, three-dimensional blobs and other objects that are more difficult to picture and occupy even more dimensions of space." He doesn't explain much of that in the excerpt, which is the introduction to the book.
But he says he understands the feeling of the great English scientist Isaac Newton that God did "create" and "conserve" order in the universe.
It was the discovery of other solar systems outside our own, in 1992, that undercut a key idea of Newton's -- that our world was so uniquely designed to be comfortable for human life that some divine creator must have been responsible.
But, Hawking argues, if there are untold numbers of planets in the galaxy, it's less remarkable that there's one with conditions for human life.
And, indeed, he argues, any form of intelligent life that evolves anywhere will automatically find that it lives somewhere suitable for it.
From there he introduces the idea of multiple universes, saying that if there are many universes, one will have laws of physics like ours -- and in such a universe, something not only can, but must, arise from nothing.
Therefore, he concludes, there's no need for God to explain it.
But some of Hawking's Cambridge colleagues said the physicist has missed the point.
"The 'god' that Stephen Hawking is trying to debunk is not the creator God of the Abrahamic faiths who really is the ultimate explanation for why there is something rather than nothing," said Denis Alexander.
"Hawking's god is a god-of-the-gaps used to plug present gaps in our scientific knowledge.
"Science provides us with a wonderful narrative as to how [existence] may happen, but theology addresses the meaning of the narrative," said Alexander, director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion.
And Fraser Watts, an Anglican priest and Cambridge expert in the history of science, said that it's not the existence of the universe that proves the existence of God.
But, he said, "a creator God provides a reasonable and credible explanation of why there is a universe, and ... it is somewhat more likely that there is a God than that there is not. That view is not undermined by what Hawking has said."
Hawking's book will be published on September 7 in the United States and September 9 in the United Kingdom.
No need for the New York Times, Huffington Post and all of the other bastions of liberal "news;" readers can always count on the Kingdom Triangle Network News to give a podium to those who are the champions of atheism.
ReplyDeletePut on my tombstone that I was A FOOL TO THE VERY END. Why? Because I believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and that Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul and the others told the Truth! The Truth set me free to confess my sins, be forgiven by God's grace and mercy, and be given a new life, in which I could continue to ask forgiveness and be forgiven, but also be given the opportunity to call on the Almighty Creator of the universes to grant me the presence and might of the Holy Spirit to fight off Satan, the purveyor of the Self Pity Religion, and give me the strength to develop the character required of those who believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
That's what I believe. Pretty stupid, huh?
What you believe is not stupid in the least. I felt that letting people know about Stephen Hawking's new book was a way of giving them a heads up on an opportunity to talk with a lot of folks who are wondering about the truth about science and religion. Stephen Hawking is a brilliant scientist and theorist who has frankly lost his mind. His former objective science proved that the universe as we know it most certainly had a beginning, which very obviously leads to a distinct possibility of a beginner. And now, when his Big Bang cosmology has caused many to consider the case for a Creator, he comes up with this self refuting garbage about "given what we know about gravity" leading to a totally ridiculous idea of spontaneous creation. Of course, certain people will lap this up, but I say it's junk thinking from the first premise. I'm hoping to give this a lot more room as we know more of what the book is really about, but what has come out so far is pretty ineffectual argumentation.
ReplyDeleteSo, you're right Bob(again!), that the Father, son and Holy Ghost have not taken off for the coast, they are right where they always have been, and are not about to go away just because one angry Brit with a Phd. wants them to. And to Mr. Hawking, God says:
Job 38:2-4 “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man;I will question you, and you shall answer Me. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.