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 Stephen Hawking at the World Science Festival in New York in 2010.
May 17th, 2011
01:44 PM ET
Heaven is 'a fairy story,' scientist Stephen Hawking saysBy Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor The concept of heaven or any kind of afterlife is a "fairy story," famed British scientist Stephen Hawking said in a newspaper interview this week. "I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail," the physicist said in an interview published Sunday in Britain's Guardian newspaper. "There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark." Hawking, who was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - a terminal and debilitating illness that causes loss of mobility and impairs speech - at age 21 and was not expected to live long after, also talked with The Guardian about his own mortality. "I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years," said Hawking, 69. "I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first." In a book published last year, Hawking wrote that God did not create the universe, in what he said was an attempt to banish a divine creator from physics. Hawking says in the book "The Grand Design" that given the existence of gravity, "the universe can and will create itself from nothing." "Spontaneous creation is the reason why there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist," he wrote in the introduction of the book, which was published in September. "It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper (fuse) and set the universe going," Hawking wrote. CNN's Richard Greene contributed to this report. soundoff (4,469 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Awesome! Telling it like it is!
Religion is a fairy tale, invented by stone age peoples to explain the unexplainable. I can forgive them. They were ignorant.
Nowadays, we know why the sun rises and sets. People who believe in this junk now aren't ignorant. They're stupid.
And, don't tell me to be tolerant of stupidity.
Brainwashing young children with this garbage is a form of child abuse.
I feel sorry for people, like Mr. Hawking, who do not believe in Heaven. It's comforting to me to know something so beautiful in the afterlife exists, instead of thinking that once I die there is nothing, I'm gone, forever. Even if it were proven I was wrong, what harm is there in believing in Heaven and God?
I was not scared before I was born, so if there is nothing, why would you be afraid of death?
"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16:18
Mr Hawking is a very intelligent man, however, just because he is a genius in math and science, does not mean I would let him perform open heart surgery on anyone. I always find it amazing how people who are famous for one reason or another, want to step out of their field of expertise and make comments where they have no experience. When it comes to religion, each one of us are just as educated as Mr Hawking. God does not offer us proof of his existence. Since Mr Hawking cannot prove the afterlife with a math equation, therefore it is not real. Well, I think he would have a hard time using math to prove how much I love my two children, but I know that I would give my life for them. Faith is very difficult but there was never any promise it would be. Mr Hawking, may God have mercy on you.
Dear Mr. Hawking.
I thought you were a scientist. If you have proven that God does not exist, please share that with us all. If you are simply giving your opinion, please do so without inferring that your position as a physicist somehow gives you insight into the matter that the rest of us do not have.
Dear commenters. Please grow up.
Thanks.
Now, here's something to agree with.
In reply to Alter_Ego:....I LIKE the way you think!
Gosh . . . what I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall in heaven when Dr. Hawking walks in and God and everybody jumps out from behind the curtains and screams, 'SURPRISE!!!!!"
Many scholars believe that heaven is a planet that exists outside of this universe. Scriptures about heaven support that idea. (Student working on my masters in theology)
Mormons believe in that.
Gene,
What kind of scholars? Heaven is being in the presence of God. Why do we need to travel to another planet to experience the presence of God. God the father sent his son Jesus Christ to be present with us and Christ sends the Holy Spirit to be with us.
"Spontaneous creation"? Maybe if I go to my refrigorator later, there will be a big plate of spontaneously created fried chicken. Not getting my hopes up....
You must not have gravity in your refrigerator then....
Earth is a penile colony for the intelligent life forms in the universe – – –
Stephen hawking is mental
weather or not god exsits we need someone or something to belive in to give us hope. we need that fairytale land so i can go there in my dreams and see my brother who was taken from us before he was old enough to drink, we need that hope n faith so we can pray for forgivness n for peace. i have read most of the statements her n im shocked with all the hatred we have on one another. may GOD bless us all.
Not all of us need that. Some of us just search for truth wherever it leads us, we don't need the fairytale. Some of us have grown up and no longer believe in fairytales
I kind of agree with you in that there is no harm done having ones faith, usually anyway, and I've heard there's evidence it is beneficial.
I agree with Hawking. It amazes me that all you hypochristians with all your different sects that all have a different perception 'god'. Far more proof has been presented scientifically about evolution and the big bang theory than by believing in a god. Besides, any being, natural or supernatural, that knowingly allows evil things tos happen is in itself evil.
More evil is done in the name of good than any other cause.
Grow up child.
I pretty much agree with him. I doubt there are any pearly gates anywhere. No one truly knows for sure though. I believe in a heaven of sorts but I think it's every where and we all go there. It seems to me our life and spiritual energy goes right back into the heaven pool and comes out again as other life. Almost like reincarnation but like Hawking I don't think we as individuals survive the next journey.
I do agree with Mr. Hawking. I have believed that for a very long time now. My belief in Jesus has nothing to do with the stories of the greatest fiction book ever written (again and again and again......conveniently omitting any stories written by the women of the time, I must add!! hummm) Jesus was such a terrific teacher, preacher, humanitarian-a shinning light in times of trouble for alot of the world at the time and could sure use someone like him today. But until then, it would be nice to live like heaven is here on earth. Taking care of one another and our planet, maybe leaving it a better 'heaven' for our future generations.
There's no evidence that life is to be taken seriously. For every argument for, there's one against. What fascinates me is in the article they quote him as saying: "I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail," "There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark." He simply states an opinion so I'm not sure why people are so upset. There's also a quote that says, "If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent one." I'm just not going to waste my life living in fear of science or damnation. I agree....and what you said makes a lot of sense in more ways than one. Live life like this is heaven. If you think about it....if everyone tried to make this the greatest experience for themselves and everyone else, then if there is a God, everyone would get into heaven anyway. If not, then at least it's not a wasted experiment.
WOW...Debbie said it all!...AMEN
Sadly, Hawking was once considered to be an up-and-coming mind that would be a part of fundamentally changing our view of the Universe. I believe Hawking has turned out to be more-or-less a hack, with theories that have been largely disproved, or are in need of major work. Hawking now is left to wax on and on about spiritual matters, an area that he is largely unqualified to talk about. He now makes sensational public statements in an attempt to cover up the fact that his career as a Physicist has basically been a failure, by the measure of other Physicists. I suppose he has nothing to lose, and only a few media-grabbing headlines to gain...I feel sorry for him. As to Heaven existing or not, can anyone (Atheist or otherwise) honestly say it doesn’t, and still appear even moderately credible? I certainly wouldn’t be so arrogant as to say that something doesn’t exist (even Unicorns), especially given how little we truly know about this vast Universe we inhabit.
Turn it around the other way – can anyone prove it does exist?
The Bible is a fairy tale based on the other religions that came before it. OPEN YOUR EYES people! Don't be so naive.
I wish those of you who aren't fit to wash Hawking's feet would stop trying to denegrate him. You only expose how stupid you are.
Stephen Hawking has everything to lose and really nothing to gain other than to lead others down the path of atheism. Also, Fred, we don't need to prove heaven exists it order for it to be truth. You need to remember that God isn't accountable to hios creations. He loves them but doesn't need them in any way whatsoever. I fathered children...I love them....but they are not obligated to love me back. That doesn't change the reality of their existence. Understanding the truth requires faith and not science. Science changes but the truth remains.
Funny thing is that while Hawking sounds like he knows everything, scientists can't account for 90% of matter and 80% of energy in the Universe using their theories. We can't even explain the physical Universe let alone the afterlife.
.....yet!
So, since you know nothing you believe everything?
Don't try to scientifically demonstrate God; don't try to theologically demonstrate the atom.
I respect Hawking's ideas, theories and knowledge. But it intrigues me the fierce that he uses when talking about God. He gets angry. Relax bro'! If you don't agree with the 95% of the world it is okay!
Look up the statistics. Your statistics are about America, not the world. Religion and belief are on a steep decline.
95% of the world?! What are you smoking?
YOU ARE WISER THAN HIM GUY, good comment.
Like they say, "Therea are – Lies....Damn lies....and Statistics". It can also be said, that 15% are strongly for. 15% are strongly against and 70% just don't really care one way or the other where they're going to waste their time on only 15% of the population.
Hawking is allowed to have his point of view like everybody else. If you don't like what he says than that's cool. That's what FREEDOM is about.
I am a firm believer in that none of us know anything about anything. Just because a smart person says something, does not mean he is automatically correct. And yes christian people sometimes go around trying to convince people that their religion is correct, but if it bothers you why not just tell them to stfu? They do not like to be cursed at, so im sure if you are vulgar enough they will leave you alone. And I see alot of you replying to each other in these posts and I want to say two things, First: Most people will not ever see you posted something regarding them on here... Which leads to my second point, dont any of you work? Have kids? Go do something with your time. Feel free to post something regarding this, then remember my first point... Keep it 100
Rob, you are awesome.
Rob must not work, or have kids, or have anything to do with his time...
The crazy thing in my mind is the fact that gaseous stars exploding a long time ago can eventually become something to simulate a conscious intellect. Imagine 14.5 billion years ago when the universe was a bunch of hot, exploding matter, and who would have thought that 14.5 billion years later some kind of matter capable of creativity, understanding, or opinion would arise from it? How does matter (molecular structures and electro-chemical signals) create with purpose? Without regard to what came before or will come after the universe, the fact that seemingly "lifeless" matter can become, well, us, makes me think what goes on in this life is quite unreal.
Bill, Bill, Bill....can't you understand? It's GRAVITY. Hawking just told you that.
I don't see it as so far fetched. If you take it back to its most simplistic form, then evolution over billions of years from the most basic of forms isn't so hard to grasp. From there, look at the advances made in just 100 years and you get an idea of what's possible with the rate of learned we've acheived so far. Think of where we'll be in another 100 years. I also think there's a possibility of an asteroid hitting the earth that's large enough to destroy it, or other disaster occurring so we probably don't want to get too cozy where we're at.
At the same time....when you think about how little we really do know.....what happens if he's wrong? It's not like mankind hasn't had any other incidents where it said, "Oops". I'll continue to have a strong belief in science, but I'm not going to put all my eggs in one basket and discount the chance there might be something greater. Afterall....we still haven't figured out how to lick our elbows, let alone solve the mystery of life.