Community | September 02, 2010 | 475 comments

Stephen Hawking Says God Did Not Create the Universe: What Do You Think?

source: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/stephen-hawking-god-create-universe-question-day/story?id=11542128

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unimatrix0
Famed theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking now says definitely that God did not create the universe or spark the Big Bang.

In his new book, "The Grand Design," scheduled for a September release, Hawking argues that the universe didn't need divine inspiration to come into being.

"Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing," writes Hawking. "Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists why we exist.

"It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going."

Do you agree or disagree with Stephen Hawking about the role of God in creation?

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/stephen-hawking-god-create-universe-question-day/story?...
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475 comments // Stephen Hawking Says God Did Not Create the Universe: What Do You Think?

  • spanky07
  • unimatrix0
  • swrnc
    • -2
      swrnc  

    • I think this guy is hokus pokus---Just because the guy is considered one of the smartest guys on earth, doesn't mean everyone should kneel down and agree with him. I think that we all have our own minds to do our thinking for us, and thats the way it should stay. If the guy said the sky is going to fall in, and martians live inside the moon would you follow him and take cover... I always say--Be a leader in life, not a follower...

    • 1 year ago
  • alexandrek
  • Naumadd
  • spanky07
  • Gravity_Man
    • -2
      Gravity_Man  
    • Image
    • alexandrek:

      A man who does all that stuff while just a teenage was BORN with it, didn't have to sweat for it like a ditch digger digging in wet mud sticking to his shovel. If you praise the silver spoon in his noggin head brain then you'll have to do it for everything else that is also "born with it". Do you?

      Or are you over laughing with the crowd of hyenas how all this GLORY did not have a Creator? One in a billion eh? We're all 1-in-a-billion even the retarded. We don't have to become a brilliant thinker to be clothed with glorious. All we have to be is who we are to the best we can be.

      Professor Stephen Hawking is the best Stephen Hawking this world, this universe, will ever have. In real terms there aren't people at the head of the human line as if we're still children lined up in 5th Grade at the cafeteria lunch line. For God's sake and our own can't we grow past that?

      We all belong at the head of the line receiving all the blessings God has to give us. And when one of us has a special insight into doing a task better that insight should be flashed around the world and raise EVERY PERSON UP and every person not yet born who will be born into an improved world.

      Not some ego-brain who charges 7,000,000,000 people for a new car design so he can shuffle his ordinary-to-himself butt up to the head of the line leaving everyone else back scrambling along. That's Garbage. And that is why this planet is no longer Planet Earth but Planet Dirt. And leachate. "Earth" denotes healthy, loamy nutrient-rich soil. Look what we the stupid have done.

      With God's help we can be that new people. Without God's help we are stuck in the ditch and will remain so forever. It seems that all people want is a pyramid but unfortunately a pyramid has most people squashed up under its base. Worshiping God is like a pyramid also but it's Holy and it's for everybody.

      There's only one choice, God's Way. Or stay roadkill.
      http://www.watchtower.org/e/bh/article_01.htm#WhatDoestheBibleReallyTeachaboutGo...

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • iamaman
    • -3
      iamaman  
    • spanky07:

      OMFG! i think i agree with you for once. they both seem to be very intelligent individuals who have accomplished much, even in the face of adversity.

      you should respect people that do that. is that what you are trying to preach to the quire?

      or do you have another agenda? teabagger!

    • 1 year ago
  • tommic
    • 0
      tommic  
    • alexandrek:

      One in six billion men who understands and can interpert physics for morons who never could get past addition and subtraction. Who think space god controls all. Steven Hawking knows its just not logical, but that something those without logic will never figure out

    • 1 year ago
  • 2hellnwait
  • carslut
  • 2hellnwait
  • carslut
  • 2hellnwait
  • carslut
  • 2hellnwait
  • carslut
    • +2
      carslut  
    • 2hellnwait:

      Can't. Don't know the guy. Know of his body of work. He holds the position, formerly held by Sir Isaac Newton. People of Newton's time questioned his "Theories" as well. As time has gone on Newton's "Theories" have been woven into the "Fabric" of logic.

    • 1 year ago
  • 2hellnwait
    • -2
      2hellnwait  
    • carslut:

      Throughout the fabric time, what God is, or is not, has been the quest of the ages... and now Hawkins say that God is not the Creator of the Universe... henceforth and therefore is definitive and absolute? . . rr-ii-ight.!

    • 1 year ago
  • Naumadd
    • +3
      Naumadd  
    • 2hellnwait:

      As with all things, nature is the final arbiter regarding what is and what is not true. Those who study nature with a rational and reasonable approach will obviously have an advantage over determining what is true over those who do not. Dr. Hawking has proven himself one of the more talented in that area.

      That is his "authority" but, of course, he continues to answer to nature like the rest of us.

    • 1 year ago
  • Naumadd
    • +3
      Naumadd  
    • 2hellnwait:

      It is the nature of science that one's skepticism can be answered by further science. If you have some skill in the method, please, feel free. No one's standing in your way.

      If Dr. Hawking's thinking is "clouded", enlighten us with your superior fact-finding and reasoning.

    • 1 year ago
  • Naumadd
    • +3
      Naumadd  
    • 2hellnwait:

      To treat what Dr. Hawking has to say as "henceforth and therefore definitive and absolute" is childish. He would be the first to remind you, he is only a human being. If you have doubts, you are free to explore them in light of what nature makes available to your for examination. No one is stopping you ... least of all Dr. Hawking.

    • 1 year ago
  • alexandrek
  • 2hellnwait
    • -2
      2hellnwait  
    • alexandrek:

      It is by choice or by chance, to believe or not is a personal decision, and we each live the results of those decisions and cannot accurately judge anything beyond our own limits of understanding. . . right or wrong.

    • 1 year ago
  • spanky07
  • iamaman
  • iamaman
  • common_sense_please
    • +2
      common_sense_please  

    • Here's the reality as of right here and right now---Stephen Hawking is smart and has a genius level IQ and a bunch of degrees educational institutions awarded him-- and he said (with the assistance of a computer generated machine to speak the words for him or with the assistance of another person to type and/or write it down for him) that it was his understanding (read belief) that when the universe formed it did not need God or anything at all--it just one day went poof and created itself.

      There is nothing wrong with him saying that--he has an absolute right to say this and believe it and put it out there for others to read or hear and belief or not belief and to debate back and forth about.

      But...when people start using his words as tinder and start fighting with each other and calling each other names or challenging each other to choose sides over believing or not believing what Stephen Hawking said is true or even arguing over the fact Stephen Hawking credentials are somehow important or relevant or give him some type of supernatural powers that suddenly makes what he said the ultimate authority on this issue--or the worst--refusing to critically think and say who is this guy beyond just another person who will one day be dead and remembered by history--aren't they essentially setting up or establishing a religion and making Stephen Hawking the god of it?

      Come on now--- if you read even two or three of the supposedly serious comments on here it is obvious the overly intellectual atheists have started putting Stephen in the same "box" as Christians put Jesus and Muslims put Mohammad and Catholics put the Virgin Mary and/or Priests and Buddhists put Buddha and thus he is starting to look like the spokesperson/icon for atheism in the same way pretty much every religion understands the concept of icons.

    • 1 year ago
  • 2hellnwait
  • spanky07
  • carslut
  • corndog67
    • +3
      corndog67  

    • It's amazing how the religious will defend, vigorously, their God. What about the other Gods? Are those followers all just misguided? I guess they are.

      Steven Hawking is smarter than the average bear. It's funny how the religious will denigrate the work he does, because he doesn't agree with their beliefs, and they are just delusions. Why don't you talk shit about his wheelchair, and how God put him there because of something his parents or he did? Isn't that the religious way of dealing with things?

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • corndog67:

      Actually to answer your question, no, God did not put him or anybody in a wheelchair. We did that all on our own. We are supposed to outrun a stag up a mountainside. In fact that capability is not far from being re-instated but only to those who learn about it and believe in it, get baptized and put themselves in line for blessings.

      Your other point about some followers being misguided is correct. Point of fact the word is filled with false religions that appear as being approved by God but in fact are not being blessed by God at all. They are running on their own steam. Chapter 18 of Revelation has a lot to say about them and ends up telling their fate also!

      Very interesting reading actually.

    • 1 year ago
  • jeffreyak
  • Naumadd
  • Grail
    • +3
      Grail  

    • While throughout the years religion has been important for bringing some sort of 'civility' to our world, the fact of the matter is that we as a society have outgrown the need for religion.

      Before the advancement of science and having the ability to look back as to where we came from and what came before us, religion was a way to calm the masses that didn't understand how the world worked. This can be held as truth as throughout the countries of the world, different religions have had their time and gone.

      As far as how our major religions have come to pass in this day and age boils down to those that didn't have 'faith' in past religions before hand. That, or wars caused by religious beliefs had completely stomped out a society that held different beliefs. That fact alone can verify that religion has, and always will be, a creation of power. A way to influence the masses and have them march to any tune you put 'faith' behind.

      Also, there is no perfect religion, nor any religion that is first practiced is readily accepted, even in today's eyes. An example of this would be Scientology today. Scientologists (sp?) happen to be a group of people that the masses of today think are just scam artists, or absolutely insane people that believe in a very, very imaginative way we were created. And yet at the same time, it's perfectly acceptable for others to believe we were made out of dirt and clay, or that women came to be from a man's rib.

      While I certainly do not agree with Scientology at all, it just a perfect example of why religion isn't needed in this day and age. What if I told you, however, that over the next 500 years Scientology or another religion someone creates, eradicated Christianity or Judaism and turned our religions of today into mythology of the past? Personally I believe that Greek mythology, Zeus and Hades sort of deal, is the most intriguing and interesting religion that has come to past. Do I believe in it? No, but I do find it interesting coming from a historical standpoint.

      As it stands humanity is relying less and less on religion as a crutch, and seeing it for what it is, stories to help calm the minds of those who are either afraid of death, or wish to seek comfort in those around them that share the same ideals. Religion does evolve just as much as humanity does, though we are seeing an end to where religion as we know it will become extinct, but humanity will continue to live on.

      We have become sophisticated enough to realize that we were not made from dirt and clay, that we do not reproduce or make life by breaking off a rib and letting it grow. We were created by being in the right place at the right time. A random chance that could never have come to pass in the first place.

      And I am perfectly alright with that.

    • 1 year ago
  • carslut
  • AaliasChrisCarter
  • Replicant
    • -3
      Replicant  

    • I find it curious that a theoretical physicist would place narrow parameters around god and dismiss it entirely.

      Edit: My point is this, religions often put god in a box by creating a concise definition as to what god is. Hawking seems to be essentially doing the same for the purpose of disproving god. I'm not real sure why such a well regarded scientist would do such a thing.

    • 1 year ago
  • Naumadd
    • 0
      Naumadd  
    • Replicant:

      He's saying that one doesn't actually require an external agent - no matter how it is described - to explain how the universe was formed. This perhaps brings up the larger question of why anyone needs to add a "god" layer on top of "universe" or on top of "nature" as a whole.

      Why is the "real", why is human life and human consciousness insufficient for many?

      Answer: inability or unwillingness to feel genuine passion for the real, for their own life, for their own mind and the lives and minds of others that they need the fantastical to feel anything at all.

      THEY are handicapped.

    • 1 year ago
  • Replicant
    • 0
      Replicant  
    • Naumadd:

      God being external is not too different from how a lot of organized religions describe god. I don't necessarily disagree with Hawking's point but I do wish he had taken into consideration the relationship between the universe(s) and what god may or may not be as did Einstein.

    • 1 year ago
  • noxidereus
  • Stacia_Weatherford
    • 0
      Stacia_Weatherford  

    • So if the earth can and will creat itself from nothing because of the law of gravity then if there was nothing then there is no law of gravity? So how did the earth come to be? I believe that God created earth and yes man did right the Bible but most of them were enemise of God who changed and became followers of Christ. C.S Lewis who I bet this guy studied in school and most of his adult life didnt believe in God then he changed his heart and came to Christ. People worshiped God before there was a Bible because we were blessed with a gift of longing, curiosity, wanting to know what is beyond us so that we would seek him. That curiosity is why peopel choose religion or science. If you read the bible Jesus says fallow me he never says join this religion or you should be baptist, apostolic or whatever. Only thing He wants is your heart so He can satisfy that longing. If you have Christ in your heart he will speak to you and guide you. Man sometimes call it an epiphany. We weren't CREATED for NOTHING from NOTHING there's a purpose. If there wasn't why should we try to find out how the earth was created. There's always a WHY? In religion and science and if you have a question ask it! Man can't answer everything. If we could we wouldn't be having this problem right now.

    • 1 year ago
  • jeffreyak
  • carslut
  • Naumadd
    • 0
      Naumadd  
    • Stacia_Weatherford:

      He's not arguing that the Earth created itself - that's a different matter only relevant long after the event of which he's speaking - but rather the origins of the universe, or the big bang.

      One can rightly say the "Earth" was formed by certain emergent conditions set by previous events. Those events are what created the "Earth". Dr. Hawking is speaking of the universe and of nature as a whole, i.e., all of existence.

      To have a "purpose" one need only be living and wish it. If one does not wish it, one has no purpose, at least, within oneself. That doesn't preclude the possibility that other life might have a purpose for you anyway.

    • 1 year ago
  • Stacia_Weatherford
  • Stacia_Weatherford
    • 0
      Stacia_Weatherford  
    • Naumadd:

      You may not believe in God but technically other life still have a purpose for you even though you might not agree with it. Like your parents. God does have a purpose for peopel it's their choice to full fill it or not.

    • 1 year ago
  • Stacia_Weatherford
  • spanky07
  • jeffreyak
    • 0
      jeffreyak  
    • spanky07:

      Because it completely discredits the notion that if we cant explain scientifically where the earth comes from it was made by a God. People its 2010, lets show we have evolved a little.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • Saladin
    • +5
      Saladin  

    • The more you study about the natural world, the more blatantly obvious it is that it wasn't created by anything remotely intelligent or with any care for living things. The more you study holy books or theology, the more blatantly obvious it is that they're wrong about practically everything.

      Neil deGrasse Tyson lays it all out.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Weu7Rh6dYrM

    • 1 year ago
  • congoboy
  • Saladin
    • +3
      Saladin  
    • congoboy:

      The timing of your reply proves that you didn't even bother to watch it.

      Tyson is a PhD Astrophyscist, works for Nasa, runs the New York Natural History Museum and is the host of PBS's Nova, an award winning science show.

      Would you watch if I told you that he talks shit about Islam? Because he does.

    • 1 year ago
  • pjacobs51
  • jeffreyak
  • Rza_Bza
  • idealist
  • JuliusBC
    • +2
      JuliusBC  

    • I just posted this on the posting of "Is God an Alien" but I think it fits here as well.

      "Ultimately, the concept of religion is the creation of the so called serpent. If you truly examine religion you will see that it basically incites or instills fear at various levels within our psyche. This fear grows on many subtle levels but it also causes many of us to constrain ourselves into tight little packages of what we believe is and has to be. Somehow this enforces our sense of supreme importance and yet at the same time it diminishes our ability to access our true supreme potential. Life is not discovering who we are but rather it is creating who we will become. Religion tends to smother and blind us from this intended ability which results in our inability to move forward. The planet is filled with people searching for more and yet so many are caught in a twisted game of fear, greed and deception. This energy being created spreads through out each of us and around the globe. In turn, it causes dissent, fear, animosity and eventually manifests in to global division, hatred and war. The true human potential is and was meant to be so much more than it is.

      Is God an Alien? Perhaps, but in the end, we are aliens to our own true potential and purpose and in that sense, this makes us an alien to God.

      So is there a God? For me, I say yes, there is a higher power but as to others, some say there is not. Does this really matter? Not really! Whether we believe God exists or whether we don't really doesn't change anything in the end. What we do and don't do, well, now that is an entirely different matter. Plain and simple!"

      So the answer to the question of whether God created the universe is going to be subjective depending on who gives it and whether they believe a God exists. If God exists, then it is highly probable that he did but not necessarily a requirement or fact.

      Another intriguing and perhaps deeper question would be: Where did God come from and did he come before or after the creation of the universe? Is it possible, that all that exists as well as God were created at the same time? If God existed before creation, where did he reside, what did he do, how long was he there, and where did he come from? What if God didn't create all that exists but instead evolved from what does exist?

    • 1 year ago
  • Ares
  • UrbanGypsy
  • observer2121
    • +3
      observer2121  
    • Ares:

      The only information you have about god is what men say about him. You only know there is such a thing because your parents told you about it or some pastor or whatever. Do you believe in Zeus or Krishna? Do you believe the Dalai Lama is reincarnated over and over?

    • 1 year ago
  • Naumadd
    • 0
      Naumadd  
    • Ares:

      Would that make you something other than a man? If you ARE a man, the statement would exclude you as well. If you're NOT a man, then I can see what you mean.

      I don't trust 'em neither.

    • 1 year ago
  • Ares
    • 0
      Ares  
    • UrbanGypsy:

      Ever read Descartes' meditations? If you think the only information you have about God is what men say of God, you just don't believe in God. I don't care if you don't, but you just don't understand. I don't expect you to; if you're happy then I'm happy.

    • 1 year ago
  • ArchDruid
  • congoboy
    • -10
      congoboy  
    • ArchDruid:

      if the right ever gave up you'd probably be a bar of soap or speaking german right now. you can thank the right for keeping you safe to enjoy your freedom of expression even if it is generally disagreeable

    • 1 year ago
  • ArchDruid
  • ArchDruid
  • ArchDruid
  • noxidereus
    • -2
      noxidereus  
    • congoboy:

      I hesitate to respond because everyone's ganging up on you, but I think that's a little out there to think that the left doesn't stand against tyranny and fascism and since you referenced Germany -- I think we're all against Hitler, right? Obama's not a great president and I won't vote for him again, but if you think he is worse than George Bush was in terms of individual freedom (I don't know if that's what you think) then you really need to do some more reading, and I don't mean that as an insult. Obama's bad but Bush was far worse.

      Our gifts from Bush:

      The Patriot Act (spying on American citizens without warrant) (Obama continues this)

      Indefinite Detention without any charge (Obama continues this)

      Lying to the American people to go to war resulting in thousands of American soldiers' deaths (and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths) - Obama is responsible for not investigating Bush ("we have to look forward" -- BULLSHIT!)

      Torture

      Extraordinary Rendition (this is how Obama continues to get away with torture -- let other countries do it for us)

      We are fucked by both sides. I'm a liberal - Democrats do not represent me. You are a conservative and if you really really really pay attention, Republicans don't represent you either (I hope, because their rhetoric is fucking stupid), and Fox News is manipulating the right. The Tea bagger/party is a corporate funded system of control.

      We are just totally fucked by the owners of this country (the filthy rich and powerful).

      You and me are in the same boat even if we are made to squabble over meaningless bullshit by the press. We are all in the same boat and fighting over bullshit without really paying attention to what's going on is what they want us to do.

    • 1 year ago
  • dreamsenvoy
  • ArchDruid
  • ArchDruid
  • noxidereus
  • ArchDruid
  • ArchDruid
  • noxidereus
  • noxidereus
  • noxidereus
    • 0
      noxidereus  
    • ArchDruid:

      I don't know what you're asking me. about what? You voted me down, so explain why. If it's because you think I'm wrong, then provide evidence as to why that is. Perhaps I will learn something that I didn't know. Or perhaps you will. I voted for Obama, but he's not that great and he is continuing a lot of the Bush-era things that I disagree with, and I'm sure you disagreed with them too.

    • 1 year ago
  • noxidereus
  • congoboy
    • -3
      congoboy  
    • ArchDruid:

      well at least you have some nobility in your back ground, congratulations. mine, well there are some stories of gas chambers and ovens. we really dont like dwelling much on that time in history.

    • 1 year ago
  • congoboy
  • congoboy
  • congoboy
  • congoboy
    • -3
      congoboy  
    • ArchDruid:

      uh thank you. it is an honor for me to be acknowledged by you in this way. i'm too busy fending off women to worry about protecting socialistic nations. besides theyre more fun. make love not war my friend

    • 1 year ago
  • Moops803
  • iamfree
  • 2damax
  • JuliusBC
  • alexandrek
  • observer2121
    • 0
      observer2121  
    • congoboy:

      Actually Roosevelt and Harry Truman were democrats, they are the one's who kept the Germans at bay. When a republican was needed to fight in an actual war, your man George Bush ran to the national guard so he wouldn't have to fight, while John Kerry fought. People on the right are panzies.

    • 1 year ago
  • noxidereus
    • 0
      noxidereus  
    • 2damax:

      What politicians say and what they do are 2 different things. I'm wondering, how can you blame the American people be blamed for their votes when the people they are voting for are constantly blowing smoke up our asses? We have a republic. The American people, while ignorant, cannot be totally held responsible for what our representatives do because we are being misled.

      Also, can you really *totally* shift 100% of the blame to Congress? If so, can you do the same thing for Bush? Is there no accountability in the presidency? Can you or Julius, in your assertions that the things I mentioned are 100% the fault of Congress, can you please show anything other than mere political rhetoric that Obama is fighting against any of the bad things I mentioned?

    • 1 year ago
  • noxidereus
  • JuliusBC
    • 0
      JuliusBC  
    • noxidereus:

      This is how it works. If a bill passes the House then it moves to the Senate. The Senate can pass or vote the bill down. If the bill passes the Senate the President can still veto the bill thus it fails. If the bill makes it through the House, the Senate and finally the President it becomes law.

      There have been few changes since the initial onset of Obama's Presidency as to the so called majority that the republican's are so drunken on using as a whip against Obama and the democrats. Here is the truthful situation:

      THIS WAS THE SENATE SEAT BREAK DOWN

      Leader Harry Reid Mitch McConnell
      Party Democratic Republican
      Leader's seat Nevada Kentucky
      Last election 49 seats Democrats 49 seats Republicans

      (+ 2 Independents: Bernie Sanders: Vermont & Joe Lieberman: Connecticut i.e. Non-Democrats)

      Essentially Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman are in the middle. They supposedly caucus with the democrats; however, as we all know, Joe Lieberman seems to always be sided with the republican vote no matter what. This does not make a strong majority! There is also the "Filibuster" that can and has been deployed by the Republican party numerous times since Obama took office. The Republican party is the party of NO, no matter what is brought before them. The American public is not the Republican parties number one concern and hasn't been for a long time.

      Many of the American public have no idea how politics works other than what they hear from the talking heads such as Insanity Hannity, Pumpkin head Limpbaugh, Ann the Man Coulter, Faux News, the Belt Way Boys, John Boner, and the Looney tune Glenn Beck. If these are your sources of knowledge as to how politics work or have been working then this would explain your lack of understanding as to how we can blame Congress for nearly 100%. This also explains why so many of the American people are basically ignorant since many of them missed the basics in high school and consequently don't have a clue as to how politics works or should I say doesn't work and why.

    • 1 year ago
  • captain_insano
  • congoboy
    • -6
      congoboy  
    • captain_insano:

      from your ingenious perspective i might have to finally agree that the possibility that god does not exist may be so. thanks for your witty comment, it makes almost everything else on this post seem trivial

    • 1 year ago
  • ArchDruid
  • dreamsenvoy
  • noxidereus
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