“Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe.”
- January 8, 1942 – March 14, 2018
- British
- Theoretical physicist, science writer
- Announced the black hole singularity theorem and Hawking radiation, and contributed to the popularization of science with his book “Talking about the Universe”
Quote
“Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe.”
Explanation
In this quote, Stephen Hawking speaks to the historical human inclination to invoke a divine creator as an explanation for the origins of the universe. Before the development of modern scientific understanding, particularly in fields like cosmology and physics, many people turned to religion to provide answers to existential questions, including the creation of the universe. This belief in a creator, often seen as natural or instinctive, was driven by a lack of scientific explanations for complex phenomena. Hawking is acknowledging that, historically, religious narratives were the primary frameworks through which humans understood their existence and the universe’s origins.
However, Hawking’s work in theoretical physics, especially with his exploration of black holes and the Big Bang theory, challenged this view by offering naturalistic explanations that do not require a divine creator. His work on the origin of the universe suggested that the universe could have originated from a singularity, a point of infinite density, and expanded through the process of the Big Bang. He famously argued that the universe could have arisen “from nothing,” governed by the laws of quantum mechanics and general relativity, which diminish the need for an external creator to explain the origins of the cosmos.
Hawking’s statement reflects a shift in worldview that mirrors the evolution of human understanding of the natural world. As science has advanced, it has provided increasingly robust explanations for the fundamental workings of the universe, often without invoking supernatural causes. This progression is seen not just in cosmology, but across many areas of science, from biology to chemistry. While Hawking acknowledged the possibility of a creator in some interpretations of the universe’s laws, his work emphasizes that science offers increasingly comprehensive answers that can explain phenomena traditionally attributed to divine forces. Today, this remains a point of discussion and tension, especially in debates between science and religion.
