God did not create the universe, says Hawking

Reuters ^ | Thu Sep 2, | Michael Holden

[WhatNot]

LONDON (Reuters) – God did not create the universe and the "Big Bang" was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book.

In "The Grand Design," co-authored with U.S. physicist Leonard Mlodinow, Hawking says a new series of theories made a creator of the universe redundant, according to the Times newspaper which published extracts on Thursday.

[rahbert]

Nobody. They have always existed.

[WhatNot]

I love how atheist use creator terminology to get their point across, the name of his book is “The Grand Design. In my world view A Grand Design would imply a Grand Designer, or a Grand Intellect. I guess his book is all about how the title of his book is erroneous.

[wku man]

He's dead, Jim.
- Bones

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[chuckee]

We get it, Stephen. You don’t believe in God and you have a theory that you have dressed up as a fact to disprove his existence. And how does that distinguish you from millions of other atheists?

[ml/nj]

I was just looking at a flower similar to this an hour ago:

Hawking thinks this is just some random happenstance. I think Hawking is nuts.

ML/NJ

[WhatNot]

can you repost the pic

[mnehring]

Wouldn’t you all love to be there when he arrives for the reading of names from the Book of Life?

No, why would you want to rejoice in the consequences of unbelief?

[Republican Extremist]

The term “Grand Design” was from Albert Einstein who attributed the unknown workings of the universe to a creator. Hawking’s book uses the phrase as a turn of the word to reveal what has been discovered since Einstein proclaimed “God does not play dice” to voice his disagreement with Quantum Theory... which was later proven to be accurate, and Einstein wrong.

[Ev Reeman]

Just another godless liberal.

[ThePatriotsFlag]

So you go back to the “original, original, original “spark” for this thing” called creation. Uh, what caused the spark? I love it when science uses “logic” to try to “unprove” a higher unprovable deity. They, themselves fall right into the very trap they build. Who cares what Mr Hawking thinks? I’m the only one that counts on this issue. :-)

[sanjoaquinvalley]

How tiresome he is. I feel sorry for him, but he is misleading many. So sad that there is no one in his life to get through to him.

[Political Junkie Too]

His latest comments suggest he has broken away from previous views he has expressed on religion. Previously, he wrote that the laws of physics meant it was simply not necessary to believe that God had intervened in the Big Bang. He wrote in A Brief History ... "If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason -- for then we should know the mind of God."

I summarized Hawkings' references to God in that book in this post late last year.

-PJ

[WhatNot]

Fair enough, but then why is he quoted as saying

"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," Hawking writes.

It seems even in this brief quote, he admits that there is an intelligence, and I don't believe he thinks, the universe had a plan, and decided at some point to execute the plan, but that is what a creator would do.

[buridan]

To quote Maria from The Sound of Music:

“Nothing comes from nothing. Nothing ever could.”

[ml/nj]

Not sure why it didn't come up. I did when I previewed it, and again when I right-clicked on the little red X, and then used its properties properties as a url

Try this:

ML/NJ

[Republican Extremist]

Hawking was referring to the theories of Physicist Alan Guth, who has theorized how something can come from nothing.

The easiest way to learn about Guth's Inflation Theory is this Discover article from 2002 called "Guth's Grand Guess" here:

http://discovermagazine.com/2002/apr/cover/?searchterm=Guth%27s%20Grand%20Guess

[Ev Reeman]

When you are God, you can create something from nothing.

God is all powerful.

[sodpoodle]

Good grief! Everyone with a brain knows that God is the Universe.

[WhatNot]

My question is why does he use designer terminology, words like create and creation. Words like this imply intelligence, does he believe the universe actually thinks?

[Republican Extremist]

OK, if you say so. I am not arguing the existence of God, merely conveying some knowledge of Cosmology, which I have studied my entire life.

If God created the physics that could lead to the creation of the Universe from nothing, and the Univerese then sprang into being on it's own, then he indirectly created it, right?