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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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"In heaven there is no beer."
Go Hawks!
You don't have to be a theoretical physicist to realize there is no God or heaven. It's unfortunate that so many people are snowed by the myths of Gods and afterlife. In a modern educated world, there really is no room for this dogma. Live your life well. Be kind to other people. Don't steal or cheat or cause harm on others. You don't need a God or threat of eternal damnation to realize this is the way to live a fulfilling life. Religion is a disease that resists all science thanks to the ignorant majority.
I do believe Jesus already told us this.
Amen.
SMILE.
"I do believe Jesus already told us this."
Jesus told us there is no god, no heaven and it's all a dogma – GREAT!
Stephen Hawking is not only disabled but he is also delusional. Anyone who listens to what this guy says is no better. If he was such a genius he would have found a cure to get of the wheelchair or atleast be able to speak without an electronic device. Stephen could be taking it out on God because he believes he received the short straw in life. But he has to realise that everyone has their own problems. Plus if he didn't believe in God, then why waste your time trying to disprove him.
He isn't a medical genius you dip.
Well all i can say looks to me like a satanic worshiper doing the job for his master (strip the world from religeon)
I applaud Dr. Hawking for his candor, and his courage – both in facing life with the medical baggage he has endured for half a century, and for facing mortality with the same scrutiny and dispassionate weighing of all available facts that he has employed in advancing mankind's understanding of himself and the universe that spawned him.
Which god are you referring to?
Steven is a very smart man, but his reason for spontaneous creation is fundamentally flawed. He says that matter spontaneously formed because gravity exists. Really? Gravity only exists because matter exists, not the other way around. If matter spontaneously forms in the presence of gravity, we would have matter popping up everywhere all the time. There would be no empty space.
I don't have time to read all these comments, but it's a blast to see all these so-called believers going out of their minds and posting the most ignorant, moronic comments ever.
As much as they wish to discredit this world class scientist, and reduce him to a complete idiot with their petty insults, they are clearly quite threatened by what he has to say. I think we all know who the smartest person in the room is on this page. He's the guy in the wheelchair.
Not threatened, just surprised at his ignorance.
As a believer I have no problem calling this man brilliant and I have no reason to question his methods, motives or conclusions. I do however ask for two answers that noone can answer: what is the first cause and where did the singularity occur. These would answer more than all the work Hawkings has done in his life.
YBP, Hawking was a C student who almost dropped out of school. He was a typical goof ball until his illness changed his life. He couldn't do anything else but study after he was afflicted.
A lot of people don't believe in God because they look at their own existence and believe it a terrible, terrible, mistake.
While we're on the subject, the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy also probably don't exist despite my wishing so.
While on the subject....no one loves you no matter how much you believe they do.
"no one loves you no matter how much you believe they do."
Exactly it's all in your head, your expectations on what you believe defines love. Which is why the old saying the only person that can love you is yourself. If you don't have that than no amount of belief that someone else loves you matters. It's why many turn to a god that doesn't exist to feel love for themselves, they can't face the reality of who they are and are usually to lazy to want to make the effort to change themselves into someone the could love.
"only person that can love you is yourself."
The problem is that it's a very biased view and can't be counted since your are showing favortism to yourself.
"The problem is that it's a very biased view and can't be counted since your are showing favortism to yourself."
Ummm....love can be defined using favoritism and yes it's with yourself and all in your head.
So RollerPig says something and we blindly accept it? I'd like to see his experiments – you know, the ones where he creates something from nothing so he can prove his theory. Oh, maybe we’re not allowed to see them…?
Really no different than someone reading a book 2,000 and blindly believing that.
@Andrea- Why do you think time effects the truth behind a book?
And why do you blindly believe that ppl blindly believe in the Bible?
If there is a god why does he hate amputees? He seems to work miracles for so many if you listen to the christians, yet he has never performed the miracle of replacing a lost limb so he must hate amputees.
Bob, you keep asking carnal questions without hearing the spiritual answer. Life is a test from God to love and follow Him. Don't be concerned about the ways of the world, concern yourself with knowing and loving Him for eternity.
Amen.
Mr.Hawkings,there is no heaven for those who do not believe.I 'll ask that a special prayer be seid for you tonight at the Revival at our tonight.If as you say ,there is no GOD it can't hurt. If their is a GOD as I say it may help you.
So there's a heaven if you believe? That sounds schizophrenic.
And God said: "There is no Stephen Hawking. Hawking is my fantasy!"
Wow, I think CNN may have achieved a new world record with this comment thread.
Why do so many of you give a ratz azz what Stephen Hawking things about your beliefs? Stop fretting so much about the opinions and convictions of others and live your own life.
Well said Hawkins...just like people buy your book and believe what they read, people believe in the bible...People gotta believe in something....or believe in something that is nothing
The difference here between what is written in Hawkings' work and what is written in the bible is that there is clear, cut, and dry evidence to support it. Where as the bible is has almost zero evidence to support it as being true. Nothing new has come out of religion since 1611 when The King James was published.
I'd be bitter too if I were a shrivelled up little gimp.
That "shriveled up little gimp" is more intelligent than you will ever be, and has made more scientific discoveries and advancements than you ever will. So yeah, criticize him for having a medical condition if that makes you feel better about your own sad life.
And God said: "There is no Stephen Hawking."
Wow! This is completely unnecessary. The man has a severe physical deformity and all you want to do is make fun of him. We should be lucky to still have a brilliant man such as Stephen Hawking still on this Earth helping us define the mathematical code of our reality.
He's just bitter.
No, you are.
...and you're just judgemental. And ignorant. And wrong. And so many more things, now unnecessary to say.
This is how guys like this get publicity when they sense that they are not in the public limelight any more. He says something blunt but that will grab headlines. The reality is that here is one of the most brilliant men in the world who has missed the deeper reality that he has an eternal soul. How stupid is that? Would love to hear his first remarks when at the moment of death he meets Jesus.
Where's your proof there is an eternal soul?
"Eternal soul" is just a wishful thinking, nothing more.
@gupsphoo- Is a temporal existence your wish?
@Huh
I have encountered – not once, but twice – the spirits of people who I knew to be dead. I was even present when one of them died. In one of those cases, I know another person who also encountered the spirit of one of those people. I didn't believe her at the time, but months later, it happened to me, too, and I thereafter believed her story.
As for Hawking, well, for all his brilliance as a physicist, he's a fool. I'll take him at his word that given the existence of gravity, the rest could happen (including the spontaneous creation of matter), but where, then, did the gravity come from? Oh, yes, that's right, I remember now: "In the beginning was the Word..."
Mr. Hawking does, indeed, seem bitter, and that's too bad. He needs to spend some time around former atheists and find out what he's been missing.
Wishful thinking is better than negative thinking, like saying this is it, nothing more.
At the door of death, what everybody experiences but nobody ever reports back to us, instead of graciously accepting there is no authoritative answer about death and different people have come to different conclusions, this man pronounces he knows what no one before in history has known for sure, and that everybody who disagrees with him is stunted at childhood. Hey, nice exit, Hawking! Now that physicists have tossed you out as irrelevant, you're still trying whatever you can to grab the attention you once enjoyed, even if you have to insult people to get it.
I fail to see how is affirmative answer that there is no heaven is any different then the answers put forth by any of the myriads number of churches that promise salvation at death. He is stating a personal belief which he beliefs can be backed up by scientific rational though. I have yet to read anything from Hawking that has him calling people stunted children, his reflection is that religion promotes people to not think for themselves and accept defeat. This is very different than the fire and brimstone from a number of churches.
LOL at stating his relevance in the world of physics has declined to such a degree. In case you didn't know, some of the most progressive movements in modern physics are a direct consequence of the stipulations and theoretical scenarios conceived by Hawking. The LHC is a good example of how his theories spurred a new generation of thought as to the origins of the universe and the nature of black holes. Great thinkers are great not because they constantly churn out relevant data, they're great because they inspire others to build and expand new theories upon the foundation they created. Einstein's greatest piece of work was written in his twenties, so according to you he ceased being relevant a short time after-wards and spent the rest of his life being upped by other scientists. Nothing wrong with that because it doesn't matter... an entire discipline of new scientific inquiry exists today because of him. Just like a new discipline exists today because of Hawking. And neither one of them believed in "God" or "Heaven". Who cares! What does that have anything to do with their accomplishments as scientists? If they were theologians then I would care, but they weren't so it's irrelevant. If you don't like the channel then change the station.
I concur – Crippled and dumb. Maybe God knew his ways long before he was 21 so He gave him a life stuck to a wheelchair since He knew Stephen would be good for nothing. Some people are so "smart" – they're just plain stupid......Dear Jesus, bring these non-believers to their knees – quickly – so they can see that You are God. Amen. You non-believing idiots.
"Imagine there's no heaven....and no religion, too. Imagine all the people living for today."
John Lennon was way ahead of his time.
You know he probably wasn't talking about all aspects of faith but that of organized religion.
And God said: "There is no Stephen Hawking. Hawking is my fairy story."
I agree! I love the Beatles and our universe that works perfectly without the possibility of a celestial dictatorship.
Lennon should have been locked up. I mean, c'mon, he helped Yoko Ono to make records, which is a crime against humanity by any standard. I'm still scarred from having once heard her "sing" – if that's what you call her shrieking.