AFP
Stephen Hawking says God did not create the universe
God no longer has any place in theories on the creation of the universe due to a series of developments in physics, British scientist Stephen Hawking said in extracts published yesterday from a new book.
In a hardening of the more accommodating position on religion that he took in his 1988 international best-seller A Brief History of Time, Mr Hawking said the Big Bang was merely the consequence of the law of gravity.
“Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist,” he writes in The Grand Design, which is being serialised by The Times newspaper.
“It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going,” added the wheelchair-bound expert.
Mr Hawking has achieved worldwide fame for his research, writing and television documentaries despite suffering since the age of 21 motor neurone disease that has left him disabled and dependent on a voice synthesiser.
In A Brief History of Time, Mr Hawking had suggested that the idea of God or a divine being was not necessarily incompatible with a scientific understanding of the universe.
But in his latest work, Mr Hawking cites the 1992 discovery of a planet orbiting a star outside our own Solar System as a turning point against Isaac Newton’s belief that the universe could not have arisen out of chaos.
“That makes the coincidences of our planetary conditions – the single sun, the lucky combination of earth-sun distance and solar mass – far less remarkable, and far less compelling as evidence that the earth was carefully designed just to please us human beings,” he wrote.
Mr Hawking argued earlier this year that mankind’s only chance of long-term survival lies in colonising space, as humans drain earth of resources and face a terrifying array of new threats.
He also warned in a recent television series that mankind should avoid contact with aliens at all costs, as the consequences could be devastating.
7 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
Daniel Schembri
Sep 4th 2010, 18:43
I think that in the future, science and the roots of all spiritual movements shall converge. Science is concerned with partiality. Philosophy with unity. Religion may be regarded as philosophy that was distorted on purpose (for social control, defence mechanisms for people in difficulty etc.). The details of philosophy are slowly being proven by science. And you can't agree with me, if your idea of God is as is portrayed by the church. As a matter of fact, I know that priests have to speak in a way that is understood by average Joe. I also think that the Large Hadron Collider experiment may accelrate the process of this convergence. This will lead to one spiritual movement, a greater understanding of our place in the cosmos and less inter racial/ religious tensions. What writers like Richard Dawkins, Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking are concerned with, is the eradication of the misconceptions of religions. And I think this is dangerous, because the majority of people need religion (in the traditional orthodox sense). I don't.
Darren Galea
Sep 3rd 2010, 17:42
God didn't create the Universe?
In other news, grass is green.
D Vella
Sep 3rd 2010, 15:35
Catholics,protestants,islamists,jews all jumping in to dismiss sciemcs,just as they have always done. Too much to lose I suppose,an incredible lifestyle being not the least. You will understand my using such simple terms but I thought I had better comment like with like.
renald williams
Sep 3rd 2010, 12:15
Nothing new... this same arguments ie
that the law of gravity was a consequence,
that creation was created from nothing
that spontaneous creation came by itself,
already used during the middle ages to prove there was no need of grand designor,
and all proved wrong by science, by a simple apple and microscope
since energy or life cannot be created spontaneously as a consequence from nothing
unless obviously one beleifs in an eternal allmighty grand designer...
for historical scientists proven wrong enter www.tecmalta.org/blata.htm subject 13
Jason Fenech
Sep 3rd 2010, 13:25
Nothing new indeed! The same old creationist confusing evolution with abiogenesis (origins of life) and cosmogony (origins of the universe). Yawn!
Btw the link you provided is to say the least ludicrous ... try reading this instead;
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/misconceptions_faq.php and when done buy yourself a good book on the subject.
May I suggest; http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/10484451/The-Greatest-Show-On-Earth/Product.html
Patrik Larsson
Sep 3rd 2010, 13:40
Perhaps you should share your remarkable findings with Professor Hawkins.
Albert Cocker
Sep 3rd 2010, 14:07
You are right, lets ignore what the evidence points to and believe an easy bullshit answer.
Gravity? Meh Its just a theory waiting to be disproved, its nonsense. Every smart guy knows that God applied glue to the earth on the 1st day of creation.