Jesuit rebuts God-denying scientist
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Some say scientific super-brain Stephen Hawking can’t see the big picture.
A Jesuit priest has taken to YouTube and his blog to rebut arguments raised by the British physicist, who says in a new book that God had no role in creating the universe.
“Though Dr. Hawking is an outstanding physicist, his metaphysical skills are less than honed,” said Jesuit Father Robert J. Spitzer, now president of the Magis Center of Reason and Faith in Irvine, Calif., who headed Gonzaga University from 1998 to 2009. He made the comments in a seven-minute YouTube video titled “The Curious Metaphysics of Dr. Stephen Hawking.”
Hawking, a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences since 1986, said in his new book, “The Grand Design,” that “because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing.”
“Spontaneous creation is the reason why there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist,” Hawking added. The book, written with physicist Leonard Mlodinow, was published Sept. 7.
Father Spitzer, author of the recently published “New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy,” said Hawking’s “fundamental assumption about the universe” is “that it came from nothing.”
But the priest said “what many term the first principle of metaphysics” is “From nothing only nothing comes.”
“If the physical universe had a beginning (a point at which it came into existence) then prior to that point it was nothing,” Father Spitzer said in his blog. “And if it was nothing then it could not have created itself (because only nothing can come from nothing).
“So what does that imply?” he asked. “The very reality that Dr. Hawking wants to avoid, namely, a transcendent power which can cause the universe to come into existence.”
Father Spitzer holds a doctorate in philosophy, master’s degrees in theology, divinity and philosophy, and a bachelor’s in public accounting and finance. He is producing a documentary on God and modern physics, which is scheduled for completion in November.
Hawking’s latest book also drew comment from various religious leaders after The Times of London published an excerpt.
“Belief in God is not about plugging a gap in explaining how one thing relates to another within the universe,” Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury said. “It is the belief that there is an intelligent, living agent on whose activity everything ultimately depends for its existence.”
Editor’s Note: Father Spitzer’s YouTube video and blog and information about his book and upcoming documentary are available at http://magisreasonfaith.org.
From September 17, 2010 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
