Society's Child

'I'm an atheist' because science is 'more convincing' than God - Stephen Hawking

David Edwards
Raw Story
Wed, 24 Sep 2014 00:01 UTC

Stephen Hawking clarified this week that he was an atheist because science had provided him with a "more convincing" explanation of the origins of the universe. According to NBC News, Hawking made the comments to the Spanish-language paper El Mundo during the Starmus Festival at Tenerife in the Canary Islands.

El Mundo's Pablo Jauregui pointed out that Hawking had written in his book A Brief History of Time that scientists could "know the mind of God" if a unifying set of principles - or theory of everything - was discovered to explain the physical universe. But Hawking later wrote in The Grand Design that God was no longer necessary because science had provided a better understanding of the universe.

"Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe," the world-famous theoretical physicist told Jauregui. "But now science offers a more convincing explanation."

"What I meant by 'we would know the mind of God' is, we would know everything that God would know, if there were a God, which there isn't," he added. "I'm an atheist."

But Hawking does believe that humans are not alone in the universe, and that meeting extraterrestrial life could be like Christopher Columbus coming to the Americas.

"Which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans," he warned.

"The idea that we are alone in the universe seems to me completely implausible and arrogant," Hawking told the paper. "Considering the number of planets and stars that we know exist, it's extremely unlikely that we are the only form of evolved life."

Via NBC News

Comment: Mr. Hawking is coming from this perspective:

Analytic Thinking Can Promote Atheism

But at the same time, rigidity of thinking can produce this:

Still there is hope for developing a higher understanding:

Science and Religion

Reader Comments

Third_Density_Learner · 2014-09-25T06:42:18Z

hubris

What I meant by 'we would know the mind of God' is, we would know everything that God would know, if there were a God, which there isn't," he added. "I'm an atheist."

Third_Density_Learner · 2014-09-25T06:46:31Z

The above was posted accidentally, as I had not yet completed what I wanted to say. In any case, I just wanted to comment on the sheer arrogance of this man to say, like he has all the answers to the universe, that there is no God (or Prime Creator, or whatever word you wish to use here). What then, Mr Hawking, created the Big Bang? If you say it was just another explosion in an infinitely long line of monumental explosions, then what is the very fabric of existence that allows for such monumental explosions? Why is there SOMETHING, and not NOTHING??? His rigidity in thinking has made him totally blind to the non-material, multi- and hyper-dimensional reality of our universe.

jowblow · 2014-09-25T10:03:20Z

Anyone who professes to know

Really doesn't. The problem is that we attempt to interpret the world through our human experience. Assuming "God" to have human-like qualities. That's where we fall short.

There's no way to conceive that which can not be grasped. In the absence of such, mankind attempts to be as "god-like" as possible. The end result is we measure God-like power in the ability to control and destroy.

On another note, wouldn't it be interesting if another alien species was carrying out its "manifest destiny" and set foot on Earth. We to them would be as the natives were to Columbus. Only to see 90+% of humans eradicated within years. But we don't need to wait for that to happen. The "Elite" see themselves as above humans and think of us as scum. They are doing the Columbus routine and using engineered viruses such as Ebola (with even more worse to come) as their tools of eliminating their competition. These are the ones to worry about. These are the ones who consider themselves as Gods. In public though, they profess Atheism.

nedlud · 2014-09-25T13:53:20Z

faith in porno-technology

This poor little twerp can't understand the difference between a tv set and a woman's thighs.

Or her sighs.

Maybe next time.

I am not happy with my life, but I sure am glad I am not Stephen Hawking.

ned, out

Agnosco · 2014-09-25T13:59:00Z

Another Fundamentalist

He may be smart, his logic is flawed and his conclusions are mostly based on unfounded assumptions.
Moreover, there is an ever-increasing evidence that his theories are simply wrong. (http://vixra.org/pdf/1409.0072v2.pdf)
Albert Einstein himself summed up the essence of Theoretical Physics/Science with this very telling quote about his famous theory: "No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.."
Theoretical Scientists hatch an idea based on assumptions, and then concoct a “dazzling” mathematical model to explain how it might be possible, and then challenge their peers to disprove the theory (Negative Proof Fallacy)

micV · 2014-09-25T14:22:18Z

How do they get away with this ?

The idea that we would know everything God would know seems to me completely implausible and arrogant.
So many people fall for this nonsense. Taking their power back from one "authority" figure and giving it straight to another. Trapped.

eyesoftheworld · 2014-09-28T12:33:16Z

Need more work on 'duality'

True religion (belief in Higher Consciousness) is not antithetical to Science. They are complementary. We understood this at some point in the near past. As a philosophy major, we understood that what we did, how we taught to think, the questions we asked, were a compliment to the world of hard science. Hawking is a brilliant man but seems to feel that it has to be one or the other. He has a surprise coming...

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'I'm an atheist' because science is 'more convincing' than God - Stephen Hawking

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