Nearly hands down, he is considered one of the smartest people alive. Does anyone know what his opinion on God...or religion are?
2006-10-04 09:17:39 · 17 answers · asked by mobyisaparrothead 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
According to this site he does, but maybe not in the same manner as others:
"Hawking told the attentive reporters that he did believe in God, but not in a personal God. At least, that's what I thought he said. I would be corrected later."
http://www.pacificnews.org/marko/hawking.html
You might find other info here:
http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Steven%20Hawking%20believe%20in%20God
2006-10-04 09:29:39 · answer #1 · answered by truthyness 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
its pretty doubtful from what he has said that he believes in a personal god with a consciousness. he may have a pantheistic concept of god, if he belives in a god at all.
i found a few quotes:
"What I have done is to show that it is possible for the way the universe began to be determined by the laws of science. In that case, it would not be necessary to appeal to God to decide how the universe began. This doesn't prove that there is no God, only that God is not necessary." [Stephen W. Hawking, Der Spiegel, 1989] http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_SHawking.htm
"It is quite possible that God acts in ways that cannot be described by scientific laws, but in that case, one would just have to go by personal belief." http://www.nndb.com/people/563/000022497/
"By the time he was 13, Hawking's hero was the atheist philosopher and mathematician, Bertrand Russell. At the same age, two of Hawking's friends became Christians as a result of the 1955 Billy Graham London campaign. According to his 1992 biographers, Hawking stood apart from these encounters with "a certain amused detachment." There is nothing in A Brief History of Time that deviates in a significant way from the religious views of the 13-year old Stephen Hawking." http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqm/study_res/hawking/schaefer.html
He does not talk publicly about his beliefs, but i think that what he has said, and the ways that he does use the term "god" that the god he talks about is nature or the universe, not god in the monotheistic sense.
2006-10-04 17:39:33 · answer #2 · answered by student_of_life 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I suspect he doesn't believe in God, but if someone were to present a COMPELLING case for the existence of god, then like most rational people, I suspect he would say god exists. However, as David Hume once said, "Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof".
2006-10-04 15:02:03 · answer #3 · answered by James P 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most of what I've read about Hawking says he believes in an order to the universe (as in his famous phrase, "God does sometimes play dice"), but I don't think he believes there is a "person" to pray to for answers.
But I haven't seen anything definitive related to his beliefs.
2006-10-04 09:31:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I get the impression that Stephen Hawking has an idol that he uses to account for the things he cannot explain by means of physics, which he has carefully defined not to correspond to any of the gods of existing religions, so that he will not feel obligated and have to obey anything, but serves as a social escape hatch-- not a psychological escape from the dilemma of causation, but a social escape-- to avoid having to deal with the concern of those who believe in a real hell and want to see others rescued and prevented from having to go there.
2006-10-04 11:18:49 · answer #5 · answered by cdf-rom 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Greetings!
Historically, I do not know one (myself being) theoretical physicist who does not believe in a spiritual force while never endorsing the religions of man.
The math, the mere being of mass, and the ability add two plus two equals four, leaves no doubt in the mind of an intellect.
Good Luck
2006-10-04 09:21:49 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
He does. I don't think he could be considered Christian, but here's a quote: Stephen Hawkins, when discussing what happened before the Big Bang said "If I understood that, I would understand the mind of God."
I think it leaves little doubt. The concept is meaningful to him and even he admits limits to human knowledge.
2006-10-04 09:49:12 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋
Only God knows that lol. Maybe he isn't because he just hawks around.
2006-10-04 09:19:11 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I believe that Hawking is at best an agnostic.
2006-10-04 09:28:02 · answer #9 · answered by sokrates 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I think he does, but he is a firm believer in science. Which I believe is the reason for his intelligence.
2006-10-04 09:27:07 · answer #10 · answered by Andrea 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋