About Stephen Hawking and his ilk

Simulation of how a black hole might look.
Image NASA APOD
For a compact explanation of this magnificent image see the APOD page

Stephen Hawking repeatedly saying that God does not exist does not require extensive academic studies of most demanding branches of modern Sciences such as, for example, Particle Physics, higher Mathematics, Astrophysics, Nuclear physics, Cosmology or Astronomy in general.

It is quite easy to say so without any higher education. In fact, we know that there were people in pre-scientific era who said so over two thousand years ago:

   The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
   Psalm 14:1

On the other hand, what does require extensive academic studies of the most demanding branches of modern Sciences such as, for example, Particle Physics, higher Mathematics, Astrophysics, Nuclear physics, Cosmology or Astronomy in general, is to describe God's work. For example, to discover and understand the weak radiation from a black hole, what is at the root of gravity or what exactly is the time-space continuum.

It is a hell of a job trying to figure out how the Universe works and especially how primitive and complex life has evolved on planet Earth creating wonders of Nature such as Stephen Hawking with his mind blowing ideas or that lucky combination of mutations called Daniel C. Dennett, who can see.

Formula 1 starting position

It is quite simple, really.

Statements about no God by professor Hawking and his ilk are not the results of the race, they are their starting position.

If the starting position is to reject any notion of God the Creator and to ignore what the God of Israel Himself tells about the Universe, there are not many alternatives left to the deep question Why? Is the meaning of life really 42?

If there is no Creator obviously the existing Universe and we living in it must the product of some anonymous processes guided by the Laws of Nature. Automation with no guiding thinking, design or particular purpose. There also must be some sort of engine that drives life against the Laws of Thermodynamics we have learned to respect ever since the Berlin School began to write about them. Let us call it Evolution, the Almighty genius of life!

It exists

If God does not exist we still exist, stupid. For an atheist that existence is a given fact and explains everything to a rational man. Look around, touch that stone, it is there. It is a fact. Saying anything religious about it is pure nonsense and a sickness that must be erased from humanity.

I am

Should our starting position in the race for knowledge and understanding rest in the God of Israel, things get very personal.

For His name is not "it exists" but "I am". (in Hebrew JHVH) 

God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
Exodus 3:14

Suddenly we have the freedom of scientific exploration and research and Philosophy and Religion in a Cosmos, that is ultimately One and ultimately Personal.

Of course we all know that the Jewish guy from God's chosen people, Albert Einstein, had difficulty with the concept of a personal God and even more so with His children. But he did talk about Him and did not just ignore the only real God there is.

So what's the difference

The difference between the foolish claim of human heart that there is no God and the listening to the God of Israel talking about things is in this personality of things that lacks from disbelief. Ii is in the deepest understanding of humanity in the Universe as reflecting its Maker that atheistic humanism lacks. 

Deep down, a scientist figuring out God's works frequently praises Him for what he or she discovers and sees the meaning of One. It poses a healthy dose of humility on the brilliant human mind, made almost divine.

Almost. 

When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?Psalm 8:3 - 4

_________
 ותחסרהו מעט מאלהים וכבוד והדר תעטרהו 5: 8

Steven Dick and Cosmo-theology

Milky Way, Black Rock Desert, Nevada USA
image wikimedia

Robert Lawrence Kuhn said in a PSB TV discussion 2010 the following

NASA chief historian Steven Dick questions the consistency of the Christian salvation plan if there are sentient beings on other planets. The salvation of humans on Earth depends, according to traditional doctrine, on Jesus’ death and resurrection, but what about those beings on other planets? Does his death on earth save them?

“If the answer is ‘No,’” says Dick, “then you have a scenario of a planet-hopping savior, which was not kindly looked upon by, say, theologians in the Middle Ages.”

Dick’s solution is a radical rethinking of what is meant by “theology.” He argues for what he calls a “cosmo-theology,” meaning “we need to take into account what we know about the universe, including whether or not there are extraterrestrials.” This includes the fact that “physically, the earth is not at the center of the universe” and the likely fact that, in Dick’s opinion, “biologically, human beings are not at the center of the universe either.” He suggests that there are other, far more advanced intelligent life forms. “We are most likely not at the top of the great chain of beings,” he says.

Dick’s cosmo-theology, which would be energized by extraterrestrial, or ET, intelligences, is hardly “theology” in any traditional sense. God is nowhere to be found. Nor are humans very much important. I’d be thrilled to know such “new truth,” though deeply disappointed, I’d admit, that God were no more.
Kuhn Closer to Truth

A catholic view
In a blog written July 24, 2014 Mark Strauss refers to these ideas and continues the discussion

How would the world's religions react to the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence? There is, of course, no single answer. But for Christians who believe in the redemption of humanity through a singular event—the Incarnation of God through Christ—the question poses an especially complex dilemma.

To appreciate the conundrum, a good place to start is with the words of Father Jose Funes, a Jesuit astronomer and current director of the Vatican Observatory, who suggested in an interview that the possibility of "brother extraterrestrials" poses no problem for Catholic theology. "As a multiplicity of creatures exists on Earth, so there could be other beings, also intelligent, created by God," Funes told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. "This does not conflict with our faith because we cannot put limits on the creative freedom of God."

But, L'Osservatore Romano asked, what if these beings were sinners?

"Jesus became man once and for all," Funes responded. "The Incarnation is a single and unique event. So I am sure that also they, in some way, would have the chance to enjoy God's mercy, just as it has happened with us human beings."
Strauss How Would Christianity Deal with Extraterrestrial life

Both articles give many additional links that are very much worth clicking.


Basic problem: ignoring the history of human learning
Steven Dick hits the nail head on by referring to the change in world view.  For there is a basic problem in many theological discussions, including the two articles referred above, in which the progress of humanity and our evolving knowledge about the space is not taken enough into consideration.

For the Bible is a truly old book. It was written in Ancient Near East and classical Roman imperium where it was taken by granted by all that Earth is the center of all existence. Sun and moon, the five visible planets and those little dots of light called stars move in mysterious ways in Heaven above Earth.

By rolling back to the geocentric world view that preceded the rather recent impact of the observations of Nicolaus Copernicus and his colleagues we can understand the following verses in the Book of Revelations

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
Rev. 6:12-13 KJV

Trying to force the prophecy into modern cosmology would twist both the genuine message of the Book of Revelations and the reality of God's creation.

The basic collection of holy books in the Judeo-Christian tradition represents an old worldview. Today, the geocentric as well as the heliocentric and Milky Way -centric worldviews have been smothered into pieces by the continuous flow of new information discovered about God's wonderful creation.

That Eye in the Sky - Helix Nebula

Helix Nebula. Hubble telescope and Blanco telescope, Chile
image NASA APOD

Another Space Theology bookmark - Helix Nebula - a truly wonderful feast of Astrophotography, genuine piece of art showing God's creation!