Asking the Clergy: How do you respond to Stephen Hawking writing 'there is no God'?

“No one directs the universe,” Stephen Hawking writes in "Brief Answers to the Big Questions" (Bantam), his book published posthumously last month. This week’s clergy discuss how they would respond to the view by the celebrated physicist, who died in March at age 76, that "the simplest explanation is that there is no God." 

Rabbi Tuvia Teldon

Regional director, Chabad Lubavitch of Long Island

It is impossible to prove that God doesn’t exist. By definition, living in a finite world we cannot disprove the existence of an infinite God. Furthermore, whether God created the universe has absolutely no effect on his being. His role as creator does not define him.

The claim that the world can come into being by itself reminds me of a story about a person who tried to create a human from dirt (as in the Book of Genesis) until a voice came from heaven: "Use your own dirt." Similarly, how did the nonchanging laws of gravity, relativity, physics and even the space the universe occupies all come into being?

Stephen Hawking was a brilliant scientist and renowned atheist, but in this last book he states, “you can say the laws are the work of God, but that is more a definition of God than a proof of his existence." He seems to admit to a God whose role was to only formulate the creative process, but not to create. However, he missed out on a key biblical belief that God created humans to have free choice, and so God deliberately created while remaining hidden, even from brilliant scientists.

This is the only way God could ensure that humans would exercise their free choice whether to believe. Stephen chose not to.

The Rev. Randolph Jon Geminder

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Amityville

Through the years I have found an interesting trait among some unbelievers, an almost evangelical zeal to spread their lack of faith. Their fervor seems to exceed that of conventional missionaries who seek to share their belief in God.

Among many things that feed my soul and enrich my life was a comment made by a physician, the brother of the bishop who ordained me to the priesthood nearly a half-century ago: "Anyone who has studied the inner ear cannot believe this all happened by chance."

My own faith journey reminds me of what the Swiss founder of analytical psychology, Carl Jung, said when asked, "Do you believe in God?" His response: "Believe? I know!" I gently share my faith the way I share food with the hungry and shelter for the cold and forgotten, out of a desire to share something, and someone wonderful, with another. What they do with the gift is up to them — I merely attempt in my clumsy way to act upon the call of my Lord.

By way of a final thought, in the many writings about Helen Keller, one particular exchange touches me more that all the rest. As most folks know from the classic book and film, "The Miracle Worker," Helen was deaf and blind since infancy. The work of her beloved teacher, Annie Sullivan, was indeed a miracle, and at a poignant moment in her development, Sullivan shared through signs and touch her faith in Jesus. Helen responded, "Oh thank you for telling me His name. I have known Him for a very long time!" I am certain she did.  

Pastor Jamaal Bernard 

Senior pastor, Christian Cultural Center’s Long Island Campus, Smithtown

How did you come to this conclusion that there is no God? It is my understanding that no one has ever proved that God does not exist.

I think there are good reasons to think that God does exist. Do I have any evidence that would support the existence of God? I can think of at least five arguments. God is the best explanation of the beginning of the universe. God is the best explanation for the fine-tuning of the universe for intelligent life. God is the best explanation for having objective moral values and duties in the world. If there is evil, there has to be good. If there is good, there has to be a moral code. If there is a moral code, there has to be a moral code-giver (God). God is the best explanation concerning the historical facts of Jesus of Nazareth. God can be personally known and experienced; God has done this throughout time, but we see it in two major expressions: creation and the person of Jesus Christ.