Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders have rejected claims that belief in the divine has been disproved following the assertion by British physicist Stephen Hawking that science leaves no role for God in the creation of the universe.
In his new book, The Grand Design, Hawking says, “Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.”
In response, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, said in The Times newspaper, “Belief in God is not about plugging a gap in explaining how one thing relates to another within the universe. It is the belief that there is an intelligent, living agent on whose activity everything ultimately depends for its existence. Physics on its own will not settle the question on why there is something rather than nothing.”
Ibrahim Mogra of the interfaith committee of the Muslim Council of Britain, said, “If we look at the universe and all that has been created, it indicates that somebody has been here to bring it into existence. That somebody is the almighty creator.” — ENI
