{"id":1487,"date":"2011-05-16T16:50:42","date_gmt":"2011-05-16T20:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/on_the_front_lines_of_the_culture_wars\/?p=1487"},"modified":"2011-05-16T17:16:32","modified_gmt":"2011-05-16T21:16:32","slug":"so-stephen-hawking-doesnt-expect-to-go-to-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/on_the_front_lines_of_the_culture_wars\/2011\/05\/so-stephen-hawking-doesnt-expect-to-go-to-heaven.html","title":{"rendered":"So, Stephen Hawking doesn’t expect to go to heaven?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Stephen Hawking, perhaps one of the world\u2019s smartest living humans, has overstepped his field of expertise.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s the bestselling author of A Brief History of Time. <\/em>He predicted that black holes should emit what today is regarded as \u201cHawking radiation.\u201d His scientific accomplishments have included explaining the complexities of gravitational singularities within the framework of general relativity. He is pursuing a goal that evaded Albert Einstein \u2013 a unified theory, the \u201cTheory of Everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Hawking has told England\u2019s Guardian<\/em> newspaper that “there is no heaven.” He makes the claim in the May 15, 2011 edition.<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that Hawking has some deep biases on this subject. And let us not forget that Hawking\u2019s been wrong before.<\/p>\n

Stanford University physicist Leonard Susskind not so long ago disproved Hawking\u2019s adamant contention that, when black holes disappear, they take along with them all information that ever existed inside them. On July 22, 2004, Hawking had to concede to hundreds of colleagues at the 17th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation in Dublin that Susskind was right.<\/p>\n

And then there is Hawking\u2019s embrace of string theory \u2013 certainly not accepted by everyone in his field.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Stephen Hawking<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nor should Hawking be taken so seriously on topics he knows nothing about, writes John Horgan in Scientific American <\/em>magazine. He says Hawking is less a scientist and more a \u201ccosmic, comic performance artist, who loves goofing on his fellow physicists and the rest of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horgan recalls how in 1980, the University of Cambridge named Hawking as the \u201cLucasian Professor of Mathematics,\u201d an honor held three centuries earlier by Sir Isaac Newton.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany would have been cowed into caution by such an honor,\u201d writes Horgan.<\/p>\n

Not Hawking, who \u201cslyly suggested that, given the \u2018rapid rate of development\u2019 of computers, they might soon become so smart that they \u2018take over altogether\u2019 in physics.<\/p>\n

“So maybe the end is in sight for theoretical physicists,” Hawking said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis line was clearly intended as a poke in his colleagues’ ribs,\u201d writes Horgan. Wouldn’t it be ironic if our mindless machines usurped our place as discoverers of Cosmic Truth? Hilarious!<\/p>\n

\u201cThe famous last line of Hawking’s monumental bestseller A Brief History of Time <\/em>was also a joke,\u201d writes Horgan, \u201calthough many people didn’t get it at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201c’A final theory of physics,’ Hawking declared, ‘would be the ultimate triumph of human reason \u2013 for then we should know the mind of God.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawking was pulling our leg, says Horgan. Deep inside the book, \u201cHawking showed his true colors,\u201d as he discussed his dream of a unified theory.<\/p>\n

“What place, then, for a creator?” Hawking asked. There is no place, he replied, \u201ca final theory would eliminate the need for a God, a creator, a designer.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Hawking and his first wife, Jane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHawking’s first wife, a devout Christian, knew what he was up to,\u201d writes Horgan. \u201cAfter she and Hawking divorced in the early 1990s, she revealed that one of the reasons was his scorn for religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, Hawking has now taken up theology \u2013 although he has no credentials in the subject, but instead biases so deep that they undermined his marriage.<\/p>\n

Hawking made this week\u2019s controversial comments apparently to promote the upcoming Google Zeitgeist meeting in London, where he will address the question: \u201cWhy are we here?\u201d Again, he has no professional standing in the subject \u2013 just a deep bias and a predictable thesis.<\/p>\n

In April, Pope Benedict XIV warned the faithful of the folly of thinking that technology could replace the Almighty. For this, the Pontiff was roundly criticized by those who said he should stick to religion.<\/p>\n

It works both ways.<\/p>\n

Stephen Hawking needs to stick to math and leave matters of faith to those who have the insight he sorely lacks, that personal experience of a loving, guiding, providing, protecting God. \u00a0<\/p>\n

So, there is no heaven? Well … maybe not for you, Stephen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephen Hawking, perhaps one of the world\u2019s smartest living humans, has overstepped his field of expertise. He\u2019s the bestselling author of A Brief History of Time. 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