"Though Hawking undoubtedly seeks to show some limits on the role of the Creator or, more precisely, to eliminate
the need of a Creator's involvement in the existence and development of the universe, he is not trying to eliminate
Him altogether. He emphatically rejects the label "atheist." He comes closer, perhaps, to fitting the description of a
deist. In A Brief History of Time he says, "These laws [of physics] may have originally been decreed by God, but it
appears that he has since left the universe to evolve according to them and does not now intervene in it."
Bob, this is an actual quote from "A Brief History of Time." I have read more web pages than I really have time to, and it really seems like a misunderstanding by the Christians that Hawking is supporting their world view. Here are three web pages I read:
corp.direct.ca
cic.csa.ru
california.com
If you read them, you will note that his wife, Jane, who is a Christian, is frustrated that Hawking will not discuss his religious beliefs, if any, with her. I am not sure how this controversy arose, and I am not sure why Christians are clinging to a misunderstanding of his remarks as validation for their own beliefs, which should stand on their own, since they are based on faith.
Perhaps you could clarify exactly what you believe Hawking said in his book. The quotes I read were all over the map, really. Saying that there may have been a creative force which is no longer operative in the universe strikes me as very, very far away from Christian beliefs.
Is chaos theory considered random, incidentally? Order from disorder? It seems just as sensical as any other theory about the universe. What is Hawkings' exact quote where he says it could not have happened that way? |
