Stephen Hawking

Last week, we learned of the death of the famous physicist, Stephen Hawking.  Almost immediately, Facebook and Twitter came alive with posts and comments about this man and people’s perceptions of him.  Unfortunately, it became a classic back-and-forth debate between those who believe in God and those who do not.  Many comments were crude and cruel.  Some people were praising him for his pioneering work in the fields of astronomy and astrophysics.  Others were denigrating him for his atheism and belittling to people of faith.  It was, quite clearly, a debate between those with liberal politics and the so-called “Religious Right.”  I don’t know why such a debate must always result in insult and crudity.  When I understand that, I will also understand partisan politics.

Now, I am a scientist.  I have a Master’s Degree in Chemistry.  But I am also a devoted Catholic, as most of you know.  No one who knows me or who reads “My Thursday Thoughts” each week, would call me an atheist.  Besides being a scientist, most people would place me squarely within the bounds of the Religious Right and a Republican.  And I, myself, would also do that.  However, I am not the crude and cruel type.  So I am not going to write hurtful or insulting things here today.

Hawking seems to have spent most of his life wanting to conclude that there is a God and that God created this marvelous universe.  In his book A Brief History of Time, he mentions God often and indeed seems to be a believer.  In the preface, Carl Sagan, another famous astronomer and atheist, had this to say:  “This is also a book about God … or perhaps about the absence of God.  The word God fills these pages.”  Hawking concludes the book by writing this:  “However, if we do discover a complete theory, it should in time be understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few scientists.  Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist.  If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason – for then we would know the mind of God.”  The book was published in 1988.  Hawking live another thirty years.  I understand that he did indeed come to believe that there is no God.

Of course, I don’t understand much about his work - it is much too advanced and mathematical for me.  It seems, however, to be based mostly on speculation.  Ok, black holes, the Big Bang, supernovas, galaxies.  All of this does interest me, but only on a layman’s terms, like the writings of Isaac Asimov.  If Hawking did indeed die an atheist, it is a big disappointment.  My training as a scientist doesn’t sway me away from my faith.  Nor does my background as a devoted Catholic sway me away from science.  To me, the two are completely compatible.  And I’ve know many scientists through the years who have not been swayed.  And the Catholic Church is perfectly fine with what science is doing and has done.  In fact, the Church is supportive of science in many ways.  At least some of us in the Religious Right are interested in answers as much as anyone.  It is just that we are sure that God exists, and it would be a most exciting day indeed when science confirms that.  After all, the scientific evidence already seems to be pointing that way.  For example, the Big Bang Theory.  God’s creation came into being with a bang!