Einstein also said,

“The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.”

“No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this,” he wrote in the letter written on January 3, 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, cited by The Guardian newspaper.

First you must free the mind, religion does not not allow free thinking. Peace to you Mr. Hawkings, you are truly a incredible man.

Hawkings is an amazing person. I’m still struggling with a theory he once postulated that conservation of matter ceases to apply in black holes… was that M theory? I can’t recall the specifics.

Regardless, Thank You, Steven, for pushing us to think outside our normal universe.

samo…

Yes, I’ve seen those writings before.  However, we have to realize that we are dealing with two intellectual beings who are looking for the absolute truth.  What they are saying, in essence, is that religion and atheism are opposites sides of the same coin——a belief or non-belief if you will of which neither can be proven or dis-proven.  The only alternative for a true scientist is agnosticism.

My grandfather taught with Prof. Einstein at Princeton and it was well known he did not believe in a supreme entity.  But because he could not prove it scientifically, he did not publicize his true thoughts and instead wrote intellectually about it.

By Blackspeare, April 21 at 12:42 pm

I dunno, this doesn’t sound much like an atheist to me. 

““Nobody, certainly, will deny that the idea of the existence of an omnipotent, just, and omnibeneficent personal God is able to accord man solace, help, and guidance; also, by virtue of its simplicity it is accessible to the most undeveloped mind. But, on the other hand, there are decisive weaknesses attached to this idea in itself, which have been painfully felt since the beginning of history. That is, if this being is omnipotent, then every occurrence, including every human action, every human thought, and every human feeling and aspiration is also His work; how is it possible to think of holding men responsible for their deeds and thoughts before such an almighty Being? In giving out punishment and rewards He would to a certain extent be passing judgment on Himself. How can this be combined with the goodness and righteousness ascribed to Him? “”
                      —Albert Einstein

Here is a link to some of Einstein’s and Hawking’s writings which includes their view on religion and science. Einstein or Hawking, don’t seem to the the atheist you make them out to be. It just seems both of their ideas of religion and god are not what people are trained to believe.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/aor/einstein/einsci.htm

http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/scientist/stephen_hawking_god_religion.html

Two comments…

First both Einstein and Hawking were and are atheists.  Though Einstein said, “God does not roll the dice” what in essence he meant is that the universe follows specific natural laws.

Second, it was lucky for Hawking to live in the UK with their universal health care.  If he had lived in the US he would have been a goner or quite poor by now!

There are a lot of myths about people with disabilities.  “Supercrip” “heroes” “inspirational”.  The http://www.guardian.co.uk had a really good story on Hawking this morning.  A good website: NotDeadYet is Stephen Drake’s blog: http://www.notdeadyet.org 

Those of us with disabling illness, live our lives as best we can.  Our society makes it very much harder.  We all know about the rotten health care system.  Wheelchair access into buildings, bathrooms, curb cuts on sidewalks, transportation and heck, just the cost of everything if one is disabled is/are hassles.

Such a difficult thing it is to fight a physical illness and have a mind beyond what most comprehend.  In this regard, it is phenomenal to see how Mr. Hawkings has persevered.  It is disheartening to put it mildly, to attempt to understand his lifelong suffering.  An incredible person, and although we all attempt to understand this bizarre concept of mind stronger than body, do we really?  Do we acknowledge the true strength of Mr. Hawkings and his giving spirit?

Thank you Mr. Hawkings.  Get well.

Amazing that Hawking has lived this long. I have spent much time reading Einstein and Hawking or viewing what their view of this universe is.

“Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind”  A. Einstein