something based on the research we talked about in the book for either of those god was not necessary to create the universe or make the laws what they are. larry: before we bring in deepak chopra s thoughts, does this constitute for us to think, therefore, you and he are atheists? i think that what we think personally, our personal beliefs aren t relevant. unlike religion or other fields, science is not based on authority. it s not the authority that stephen hawking or leonard maladno says this or that. we like to present ideas and ideas of modern science and our own personal beliefs really don t answer into it. may i also say we don t tell other people what to believe. larry: granted. the jez wits are the thinking arm of the catholic church, father. what do you think? well, some aspects of his previous book, brief history of time, i liked a little better because there was an openness to transcendence.
the only position i have is god did not create the universe, god became the universe. okay. larry: deepak, what do you think of stephen hawking? i think he s the most important figure in our time. he has iconic stature, similar to einstein in our time. he his mind roams the edges of the universe. he s most significant scientist. he has the greatest amount of perceived authority in the world right now. larry: father spitzer, what do you think of stephen hawking? i think he is obviously a very intelligent physicist. i think at the same time, though, certainly capable of oversights, as we all are, particularly the oversight about nothingness, giving rise to something in the absolute sense, with all due respect to deepak. i think also maybe even some logical errors that might be
physical world. at the end of it he said there are areas of the human spirit untrammelled by the physics. things of art, things of beauty. at the end of the day the light beckons ahead and the spirit surging within our natures respon respon responds. what he meant by that is there s a lot more to us than merely physics. even m theory, that there s something transcendent. human beings desire at the core of their being. larry: deepak, if people talk to a heavenly father and believe from that talk they get solace, so what? yes, nobody objects to that. on the other hand, as father spitzer said, human beings have a need for meaning. now, you know, leonard and stephen hawking in the book categorically state that this is a deterministic universe, that therefore, free will is an illusion. by saying that, they also imply
comes out this month. father robert j. spitzer, president of the center of faith and reason and spitzer center for ethical leadership. he s the author of new proofs for the existence of god: contributions of contemporary physics and philosophy. the catholic church. i once had a catholic priest tell me once that he was a jesuit, he spent that day with catholics and remembered what a catholic was. anyway, we ll start with leonard. how did you come to be co-author? how did this come together, you and stephen writing the book? it started around 2002. i had written my first book which was about the concept of curve space and how it came about and how we use it in physics. one day my agent called me and said, hey, guess what, how would you like to write a book with stephen hawking? i thought about it for, maybe a
we posted it on larry king live blog at cnn.com/belief. here s some of the excerpts and your comments. even if there is no need for a god to create the universe, that does not mean god did not create it. right, father? i would conquer with that. yes, because the need for it is our possibility in recognizing the need. larry: another one says, deepak, i go for what einstein said in believing in a god in the orderly harmony of what exists, not a god that concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings. do you agree with that? i do. that s exactly what was said in a different kind of language. when you ask about what was there before the beginning, that s a very relevant question. you know, when leonard answered it, i would like to also address it because you say, what created god? or what created the nothingness?