- What did Stephen Hawking Say about God? - Photo from Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons)
On September 2, 2010 an advanced review of The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking are reported that the great mathematician and physicist believes, "It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper." The Grand Design will be released by Bantam on September 7, 2010, but Hawking's comments are renewing a debate that Sir Thomas More addressed in 1529.
What Did Stephen Hawking Say about God?
Few people discussing Stephen Hawking's quotation will read The Grand Design until September 7, 2010. On September 2, 2010 The London Times offered a Grand Design excerpt. In "Hawking: God Did Not Create Universe," The London Times said, "Professor Hawking sets out to answer the question: 'Did the Universe need a creator?' The answer he gives is a resounding 'no.'" People picked up on one quotation: "It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going."
"Lighting the touch paper" is an English phrase. What does it mean to "light the blue touch paper?" The cliche means to spur action. A context example comes from The Daily Mail. Paul Hayward's wrote about the upcoming soccer/football season by saying, "Fergie will Light the Blue Touchpaper." An American equivalent is to "kick things off" or "flip the switch."
Applying Old Answers to Modern Questions
Sometimes old thinkers answered questions so well that asking them again is redundant. In 1525. Thomas More's daughter Margaret Roper was part of a 1526 Tudor salon to demonstrate the benefits of humanist instruction. The salon discussed who, if anyone, should be allowed to kill wild bees. Historian John Guy described Margaret Roper's eloquent response in A Daughter's Love. He pointed out that the issue did not appear as an English court case until 1984. Discussions that are centuries old still have value and application.
It is not Margaret Roper who explained what science says about God. It was her father, Sir Thomas More, a scholar, statesman, and Catholic humanist philosopher who addressed science and God in his 1529 book which is now titled Dialogue Concerning Heresies.
Does Science Prove the Existence of God?
Saint Thomas More wrote his Dialogue in response to his growing concerns about Lutheranism in Tudor England. As it is written using Socratic dialogue, he ventures into his arguments by establishing that "nature and reason give us good knowledge that there is a God." (96) Stephen Hawking seems to be saying that natural laws work together so well that God can be reasoned out of the formula.
Sir Thomas might suggest that it doesn't matter what lit the touch paper. Faith and reason are compatible, just as "We can see further by four miles than we can feel." (157) Sight complements touch, and faith complements reason. Science tells us how something is done, and scientific explanations can include God. According to More's argument, when something happens against nature, science confirms the existence of God. "Reason and nature do not tell you that [miracles can not be done], only that they could not be done by nature."
Albert Einstein knew something of physics and mathematics. His Cosmic Religion idea supports the belief that faith involves going beyond what the human mind can think. Although he did share More's Catholicism, Einstein wrote that "The human mind is unable to conceive of the four dimensions, so how can it conceive of a God, before whom a thousand years and a thousand dimensions are as one?"
Stephen Hawking "has never professed himself to be religious," according to Mark Henderson's September 3, 2010 article about the reaction to quotations from The Grand Design. Questions about science vs. faith have been answered many times to the satisfaction of well-respected thinkers that renewing the debate sells books more than it furthers knowledge.
Sources:
A Daughter's Love was written by John Guy. The pages referenced are 156-157 in the 2009 edition, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The ISBN is 0618499156.
Cosmic Religion was written by Albert Einstien. The quotation was accessed through Google Books on September 3, 2010. Google Books indicates that the book was published in 1931 by Covici-Friede.
Dialogue Concerning Heresies was written by Thomas More. The pages referenced are from the 2006 edition, published by Scepter. The ISBN is 9781594170447.
"Fergie will Light the Blue Touchpaper" was written June 12, 2008 by Paul Hayward. It was published in The Daily Mail.
"How Hawking Kept the Door to God Open" was written by Mark Henderson. It was published in the London Times on September 3, 2010.
"Hawking: God Did Not Create Universe" was written by Hannah Devlin. It was published by The London Times on September 2, 2010.
The Grand Design Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow will be published for the Kindle by Bantam on September 7, 2010. The ASIN is B003TXSF5C.
Alex Sharp - Alex Sharp is a teacher who has been keeping Suite101 readers up to date with the latest in audio- and e-book gadgetry since 2008.
