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God, Science and Stephen Hawking

by Tom Jones 

 

Stephen W. Hawking is perhaps today’s best-known contemporary scientist. The 68-year-old theoretical physicist, mathematician, and cosmologist was for three decades the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge in England (the same chair once held by Sir Isaac Newton), and his ground-breaking research in cosmology, quantum gravity, and the theory of black holes has earned him this country’s Presidential Medal of Freedom. His best-seller, A Brief History of Time, has sold nine million copies and made Hawking one of science’s most iconic spokesmen and communicators.

The Hubble Telescope captured this image of a three-light-year tall stellar nursery, 7,500 light years away, in the Carina Nebula. (NASA)

In early June, Hawking was again honored at the World Science Festival in New York, and was interviewed by ABC News about the scientific problem that most intrigues him. Said Hawking, who due to paralysis speaks via a voice synthesizer, “I want to know why the universe exists, why there is something greater than nothing.”

It is a profound question. According to Hawking, and according to what our telescopes and mathematics tell us, we humans are mere specks in a universe at least 14 billion light years across. Why should human beings even exist, let alone contemplate their place in the universe?

Hawking is, of course, as human as the rest of us, and spends much of his time thinking about not only our existence, but why the cosmos exists. What – or who – created a universe in which humans have developed the ability to ponder this corner of space and time? The Bible’s book of Genesis tells us it is God’s handiwork. Does Hawking see the hand of God in the universe he has spent his life examining?

“What could define God [is thinking of God] as the embodiment of the laws of nature. However, this is not what most people would think of that God,” Hawking told ABC’s Diane Sawyer. “They made a human-like being with whom one can have a personal relationship. When you look at the vast size of the universe and how insignificant an accidental human life is in it, that seems most impossible.”

I’ll give Hawking two out of three. The universe is vast: at least 14 billion light years across. And human life, confined to our own little Earth in an unremarkable sector of the Milky Way galaxy, is truly dwarfed by the age and unimaginable breadth of the cosmos. Yet if God created this limitless universe of ours, surely He does have the power to examine and embrace even the most insignificant elements of His Creation – us.

Hawking was asked if it’s possible to reconcile the perceived conflict between science and religion. The physicist answered that “there is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.”

Here Hawking misunderstands the basis of Christianity. He views religion as authority-driven, perhaps due to its historical, hierarchical structure here on Earth. What he misses, I think, is that true Christianity is based not on authority, but on faith. We don’t believe in Christ and his power in our lives because of a pope or bishop’s say-so, but because of Christ’s message of love, heard in the New Testament account of Jesus’ words, His example, His supreme love for us, and the eyewitness testimony of those who knew Him. Christ’s love is the model for the way we humans strive, albeit imperfectly, to treat each other.

Science observes our cosmos, builds a logical hypothesis of how it functions, and tests such suppositions through experiment and further observation. Faith addresses that which cannot be measured or tested, but is nonetheless real – love, for example, or curiosity, or our yearning to understand our place in this universe.

There is room in this universe for both faith and science. Indeed, fully half of 1,700 elite scientists surveyed recently express religious beliefs. Human beings, with both a physical and spiritual dimension, will benefit most from science and faith, which, in concert, deliver a richer, and more accurate, understanding of both the universe and our responsibilities within it.

Tom Jones is a planetary scientist and former NASA astronaut. His latest book is: “Planetology: Unlocking the Secrets of the Solar System.” 

www.AstronautTomJones.com 

 

 

 

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(The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Headline Bistro or the Knights of Columbus.)