Why Hawking is 'Wrong' About God?

The publication of interviews with Stephen Hawking, the prominent British physicist and cosmologist, on Radio Farda has received a lot of attention. Radio Farda reviews Hawking's opinions, which many consider to be the most famous living scientist in the world. Stephen Hawking believes that there is no God and that God did not create the universe, and that the 'Big Bang' was an inevitable result of the laws of physics. This is one of the controversial statements of the author of 'The Grand Design' regarding the 'death of God,' which has been heavily criticized. Dan Page, a cosmologist and physics professor in Canada who has co-authored eight papers with Hawking, believes, contrary to his former professor, that a creator God exists. Dan Page tells Radio Farda, 'In philosophical beliefs, as in the few mentioned in the book 'The Grand Design,' Hawking is more controversial than anywhere else. He may be right that, at least logically, it is acceptable that the formation of the universe could arise from natural laws like gravity, without God's intervention. However, it can be argued that logically it does not necessarily have to happen this way.' This Canadian physics professor adds, 'There is a broad discussion underway about whether existence outside itself has no cause (or outside the laws of nature, if we believe Hawking's view that he believes - or at least once believed - that the laws of nature are outside the universe and separate from it) or whether it is more plausible to believe that the universe was created by a creator like God. As a Christian, I personally believe that the universe and its laws were created by an all-powerful, all-knowing, and benevolent God. Hawking, of course, has a different opinion on this matter, but I do not believe that this question can be answered solely with scientific laws.' A colleague and student of Hawking considers some of Hawking's comments to be philosophical rather than scientific. He says, 'I also agree that many of Hawking's statements in 'The Grand Design' about God and the universe are more philosophical than scientific. Honestly, I found it somewhat ironic that at the beginning of his book he claims that philosophy is dead, yet he himself presents many of his philosophical conjectures. I think this book is a clear example of the counterargument to the claim of the death of philosophy.' Ramin Jahanbegloo, a philosophy professor in Canada, has previously discussed Hawking and the 'death of philosophy' with Radio Farda. John Lennox, a mathematics professor at Oxford and author of the books 'Hawking and God' and 'God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?' criticizes Hawking's view that God did not create the universe and that the 'Big Bang' was an inevitable result of the laws of physics, stating that the laws we discover cannot be the creator of anything. He adds that Newton's laws of motion can explain the movement of a billiard ball, but it is the strike of the billiard cue that causes this movement, not Newton's law. This mathematics professor states, 'In the world we live in, there is a simple mathematical law that 1+1=2. But this law does not create anything. It certainly does not add money to my bank account. If I deposit a thousand pounds into my bank account and then another thousand pounds, the mathematical law simply explains that I have two thousand pounds in my account. But if I do not deposit any money into my account and leave it to the mathematical laws, nothing will happen.' Lennox adds, 'The laws of physics explain how a jet engine works but do not say how it came into being in the first place. It is clear that a jet engine did not come into existence solely by the laws of physics; it required the genius and creative engineering of 'Whittle.' But think about it, the laws of physics plus 'Whittle' are not enough to build a jet engine; in addition to these two, raw materials are needed for Whittle to work on. Perhaps at first glance, matter seems to be a trivial part of the creation of existence, but [in any case] matter is not produced by laws.' Of course, Hawking's critics do not only criticize this prominent physicist's views but also praise his genius. Page says, 'As a former graduate student and later a postdoctoral researcher under his supervision (and also collaborating with him in writing eight papers), I personally highly praise Stephen Hawking's scientific genius. Although in the realm of knowledge I disagree with some of his assumptions (such as the theory of the reversal of the time vector in the event of the universe collapsing again and the theory that information will be lost in the creation and destruction of black holes, which Hawking has now abandoned both of these views).