http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/atheist-stephen-hawking-confession/2014/09/25/id/596787/
CONFESSION? :lol:
Quote
Stephen Hawking confirmed that he is an atheist in an interview this past week, saying explicitly what he's only hinted at in the past.
Responding to a question from a reporter at Spain's El Mundo newspaper, Hawking explained that when he spoke of God in his books, he meant it as a metaphor. He also didn't seem to condemn those who do believe in God, saying the impulse is a natural one.
"Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation," he said using his characteristic speech-generating device.
"What I meant by 'we would know the mind of God' is, we would know everything that God would know, if there were a God, which there isn't. I'm an atheist."
NBC News reported that Hawking's pronouncement was made at the Starmus Festival at Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where several prominent scientific minds gathered over the weekend for lectures and a bit of old-fashioned hobnobbing.
Several years ago, in 2008, Hawking told Reuters that he didn't believe in an interventionist God, but seemed to concede the plausibility of a so-called "watchmaker God" that created the universe and set it in motion. At the time, he stated that he was "not religious in the normal sense," and said "God does not intervene to break the laws" that He himself created.
In his 2010 book, "The Grand Design," Hawking seemed to let go of the idea of the watchmaker God as well. In it, he said that the origin of the universe was becoming so well known that God was no longer necessary to explain it.
Concluding his interview with El Mundo, he said, "In my opinion, there is no aspect of reality beyond the reach of the human mind."
You mean there is no heavenly and godlike watch repair shop in the sky? Now I'm fucking disappointed..
I didn't know he never admitted this before. I always took his references to a God metaphorically.
He said it before, but was over shadowed by theist quoting him out of context.
Its not really much of a surprise, the bigger surprise is that people would be surprised by this. He's a scientist and cosmologist, there is only very very rare cases of scientists who believe in god, and those people aren't that recognizable, probably because their work is hampered by their stupid belief system.
You can almost guarantee most scientists are, because unlike theists, they have discovered the truth of the universe.
Quote from: Solitary on September 25, 2014, 10:21:52 AM
He said it before, but was over shadowed by theist quoting him out of context.
As they have done for Darwin and Einstein. Hawking is becoming too important for them to ignore any longer, so they now have to change what he says.
Quote from: SGOS on September 25, 2014, 10:39:25 AM
As they have done for Darwin and Einstein. Hawking is becoming too important for them to ignore any longer, so they now have to change what he says.
Except he's still alive.. Damned atheists still alive to refute theists claims about what he says.. OMG! Hawking refuted it! Certainly he's possessed by Satan..
Quote from: AllPurposeAtheist on September 25, 2014, 11:52:10 AM
Except he's still alive.. Damned atheists still alive to refute theists claims about what he says.. OMG! Hawking refuted it! Certainly he's possessed by Satan..
It is a very theistic thing to do isn't it, wait for someone to be dead, and then as a christian or scientologist or muslim claim that someone was a follower of their beliefs, even when its never been proven, and even disproven, theists will claim otherwise because they are dead and can't tell them otherwise.
In other words they have no moral backlash absorbing corpses into their belief system.
He will no doubt recant on his death bed. They all do.
Smartest guy in the world is an atheist? Well, of cooooooooouuurse!
"He's just angry at God because of his condition."
Comments are funny. Exactly what you would expect to see, is newsmax a real thing or like the onion?
I also thought he came out with this already! Or at least I've always known him as an atheist.
Quote from: doorknob on September 25, 2014, 06:22:13 PM
I also thought he came out with this already! Or at least I've always known him as an atheist.
I never thought otherwise, either. I think the writer is focusing on some slight nuance in Hawking's words, and presenting it as a dramatic confession. He could have just easily written an article that Hawking has made a stunning announcement to the scientific community that the world is not flat. I don't remember him ever saying the world was not flat, so it's logical to assume he thought it was, right?
Quote from: SGOS on September 25, 2014, 09:04:46 PM
I never thought otherwise, either. I think the writer is focusing on some slight nuance in Hawking's words, and presenting it as a dramatic confession. He could have just easily written an article that Hawking has made a stunning announcement to the scientific community that the world is not flat. I don't remember him ever saying the world was not flat, so it's logical to assume he thought it was, right?
I've never thought of the chance that Obama is the reincarnation of jesus, so it must mean I assume he is.
Oh this is a fun game ^^
Quote from: Munch on September 26, 2014, 03:55:56 AM
I've never thought of the chance that Obama is the reincarnation of jesus, so it must mean I assume he is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vws9fTtQgz4
Quote from: Munch on September 25, 2014, 10:31:23 AM
Its not really much of a surprise, the bigger surprise is that people would be surprised by this. He's a scientist and cosmologist, there is only very very rare cases of scientists who believe in god, and those people aren't that recognizable, probably because their work is hampered by their stupid belief system.
You can almost guarantee most scientists are, because unlike theists, they have discovered the truth of the universe.
I am a scientist. I would say from my interactions with my coworkers that well more than half are theists. Mostly Christians but also quite a few Muslims, Mormons, Jews and Buddhists. Some of them are downright fundie Christians. It's possible to rationalize almost anything you want to rationalize, I guess. These aren't just run of the mill people, there are some who are incredibly smart and even world renowned in their fields.
I know of a couple of other atheists that I currently work with, and we keep our damn mouths closed about it.