Balking at Hawking’s Rejection of God

Although it was a temptation, I resisted titling this article “Gawking at Hawking.” June and I have, though, been “gawking” at Hawking some this past couple of weeks.

We first watched “The Theory of Everything,” the engrossing 2014 film of the world-famous cosmologist, who possesses an extraordinarily brilliant mind despite suffering near total paralysis from ALS. That movie was excellent partly because of the tremendous acting by Eddie Redmayne, who won the best actor Oscar this year for his portrayal of Hawking.

Then we watched “A Brief History of Time,” based on Hawking’s bestselling book published under that title in 1988—and with “From the Big Bang to Black Holes” as the subtitle. In that 1992 biographical documentary film much of narrative is by Hawking speaking through his speech synthesizer.

From early in his life, Hawking has sought to discover “the theory of everything” (ToE), a single, all-encompassing, coherent theoretical framework that fully explains and links together all physical aspects of the universe.

Finding a ToE is one of the major unsolved problems in physics, and Hawking hasn’t made that discovery yet—although just last month he claimed that he’s solved a huge mystery about black holes. (See this article.)

I confess that I don’t understand much that Hawking says. I do, however, have a little expertise on part of what he writes/speaks about: God.

One reviewer calls “The Theory of Everything” a “God-haunted film.” And in A Brief History of Time, Hawkins mentions God more than 20 times.

He concludes that book by asserting that if we humans do find “a complete theory” (the ToE), “it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason—for then we would know the mind of God.”

At the end of the penultimate chapter Hawking states that “our goal is a complete understanding of the events around us, and of our own existence.” But is that possible for a physicist as a physicist?

In the movie version, his and Jane’s friend Jonathan asks, “You no longer believe in the Creation?”

Stephen replies, “What one believes – is irrelevant – in physics.”

That may be true for physics, but one’s beliefs may be highly relevant for life, just as feelings or emotions are in a different sort of way.

When Stephen inexplicably divorced Jane in 1995 and married Elaine, he said, “It’s wonderful – I have married the woman I love.”

Like belief in God, love is also, I assume, irrelevant in physics. It was highly relevant in his life, however. But was there any kind of scientific proof that he really loved Elaine or that she loved him?

Can love ever be proven scientifically? Most probably not, even by a great physicist like Stephen Hawking. So, does that mean love is not real or important?

In Brief History, Hawking’s ideas can be correlated with belief in God to a certain degree. But through the years his ideas have become more and more anti-God. But not all of his students/colleagues agree with him.

Don Page was one of Hawking’s associates/helpers back in the 1970s, a few years after he graduated from William Jewell College. (I have heard about him often from his WJC professor, and my good friend, Don Gielker.)

Page, one of Hawking’s colleagues interviewed in the 1992 film, was and has remained a devout Christian believer, evidently seeing no contradiction between being a first-class physicist/cosmologist and a firm believer in God.

Affirming both science and faith in God is always preferable to needlessly choosing either one or the other.

In May 2011, I posted “Hawking on Heaven,” a blog article I invite you to read (again).

Hawking on Heaven

Stephen Hawking (b. 1942), the British physicist and cosmologist, is one of the best-known academic celebrities on earth. He may also be one of the most brilliant scientists on the planet.

As you have probably heard, Hawking recently made the news by saying, in an exclusive interview with the Guardian on May 15, that “There is no heaven; it’s a fairy story.”

I have not read, and likely could not understand, Hawking’s technical books, such as his Information Loss in Black Holes (2005). But I have read, and led a discussion on (with the teachers at Seinan Gakuin High School), Hawking’s popular book A Brief History of Time (1988), a bestseller that has sold more than ten million copies.

In his most recent book The Grand Design (2010, coauthored with Leonard Mlodinow), Hawking argues that invoking God is not necessary to explain the origins of the universe, and that the Big Bang is a consequence of the laws of physics alone. In response to criticism, Hawking has said, “One can’t prove that God doesn't exist, but science makes God unnecessary.” So, not unsurprisingly, Hawking says he does not believe in God.

Having rejected God, Hawking now clearly denies the reality of Heaven. (I capitalize Heaven, for I am using the word in reference to a “place” and not just as a metaphorical concept.) In his interview with the Guardian, he commented, “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.”

Since he does not believe in Heaven, Hawking “emphasizes the need to fulfil our potential on Earth by making good use of our lives,” according to the Guardian.

Back in March, I wrote about “Bell on Hell” (link here). Now, what can we say about Hawking on Heaven? And what should we think and do if Hawking should be right (even though I don’t think he is)?

We have to appreciate Hawking’s bravery in following what he thinks to be true rather than what would be more comforting. And shouldn’t we also appreciate his emphasis on making good use of our lives now? We have heard of people “so heavenly minded they were of no earthly good.” But shouldn’t those who are followers of Jesus love God and love our neighbors for their sake, and now, whether there is a Heaven or not?

And on this Memorial Day, people who visit the graves of their loved ones don’t do so because they are specifically thinking of them being in Heaven. At the cemetery we usually think of our loved ones’ life on earth, giving thanks for their lives and legacy. And that we can, and should, do whether there is a Heaven or not.

While Heaven is not nearly as important to me as it long was, I do believe in Heaven. And I think it is a “crying shame” that Hawking doesn’t, that he doesn’t have anything to look forward to after the death of his brilliant computer-brain other than the leaving of a significant intellectual legacy.

But I don’t know that I would, or should, live any differently even if Hawking should be right in his views about Heaven.