Stephen Hawkings: God didn't create the Universe

A little lunchtime news....(Pete, I await your rebuttal - please post to comments)

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
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* 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.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/09/02/hawking.god.universe/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

Humans and God

I'm not sure belief in God runs contrary to our human nature. Humanity has always believed in God, a spiritual life, a leader, "a God". Unfortunately, in the past 100 years we, in our "civilization" of our species, have moved away from belief in anything but ourselves because we have too much pride to have allow ourselves to depend on some higher being that created us, developed us, gave life to the beauty and ORDER in nature, the world, the universe - all that is. Pride cannot allow us to not believe we ourselves are the all powerful. What absolutely amazes me is that an individual can continue to educate themselves with what is out there, with the way our bodily systems work, the cycles in our world, the earth, the natural life, the universe and think it was all an accident. My computer is not even that amazing and it has a creator...the chair I sit on - a creator. The house, the car, the road, the buildings, the fence, a pencil, paper, books, clothing, my haircolor (the fake one) - all have "creators". Very interesting "logic" in the accidental creation of Earth and all that inhabits and surrounds it.

EXPELLED-No Intelligence Allowed

Okay, okay. Our good buddy Pete Chadwell recommended some stuff for us to read, watch, fit in to our hectic busy lives MANY MANY moons ago.

A couple of weeks ago, at church, a recommendation came to watch the DVD "Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed". I had thought this was about the argument of Creationism vs. Evolution. Sounded interesting, but we are VERY busy.

Finally, we got it from the King Cty library and while I had the flu last week, Matt popped it in. It captivated our entire family, even the kids.

It is not necessarily about the age old argument. It is chillingly about the loss of the ability to actually QUESTION the belief of evolution at all. To simply inquire.

I believe it was a scientist from the Discovery Institute here in Seattle, points out that Intelligent Design is not about the belief in God. Any God. It's purely about the belief that the makeup of the cell, DNA, etc (I am not a scientiest), life was designed and is too complex for random mutation. Period. And many non God believing scientists have come to support this theory. I had respect for that viewpoint not wrapped up in the fight between Creationism (not ID) and Evolution.

And worth watching, worth being aware of what is being snuffed out as we go on about our busy lives. It chilled me when one scientist actually suggested that "Religion" should be compartmentalized down to where it belongs, something to do on the weekend until Humans stop relying upon it entirely and as "religion" diminishes, science will grow bigger - until that's all there is.

If you've put it off, this is worth watching. And Mr. Chadwell will be oh so happy you finally did!