Stephen Colbert vs Stephen Hawking's Atheism?

Lost in the shuffle of Stephen Colbert's big "Keep Fear Alive" rally announcement last week, was The Colbert Report's satirical attack on physicist Stephen Hawking for claiming in his latest book that advances in cosmology like multiverse theory significantly weaken the argument that a Creator "tailor made" the natural laws of our Universe to fit within the narrow range necessary for the development of life, as I show in this video.

The 3 short clips I use of The Colbert Report's attack on Stephen Hawking come from the longer September 16, 2010, segment that also includes the announcement of Colbert's October 30, 2010, "Keep Fear Alive" Rally in Washington D.C. under the title "March to Keep Fear Alive Announcement." That full segment is available on the Colbert Nation website at http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/359382/september-16-20...

I also quote and use an image of the Wall Street Journal article co-authored by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow under the title "Why God Did Not Create the Universe: There is a sound scientific explanation for the making of our world—no gods required" that's available online at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467921609024244.html

Category:

News & Politics

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• Colbert
• Hawking
• Atheism
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• theism
• cosmology
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• god
• unnecessary
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• natural
• law
• constants
• multiverse
• life
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• liberalviewer

[mightypenn128]

i'm sorry, but can't you perceive that colbert is making fun of religion?..

[ukmoore]

Liberalviewer is not hating on Colbert, what's wrong with you idiots?

[vjanicek]

I don't think that... whoever made this video, understands that... Colbert is being ironic!! he is not making fun of Prof Hawking but making fun of the pointless religion arguments that for some reason still exist in 2012... Please, correct that. He is making Prof Hawking's point much stronger by using smart and funny ironic remarks

[jackhwo1]

I know it's satire but... It isn't funny.

[Slik00Silk]

Answers 1. Question is not worth answering.

2. No it does not significantly weaken the argument. The reason for that , is that the argument that our universe was tailor made for life is already so weak that it is almost meaningless to add any more evidence to the mountains of data that shows the reverse: life has evolved to fit the circumstances of our already present universe; a universe which is ever changing. Sometime that ability will fail on this planet, so we must go to space.

[drfoxcourt]

What is wrong with the "Colbert is not hating, he's joking" commenters?. Do you honestly think LiberalViewer and his subscribers don't know Colbert is joking? Pay closer attention to the questions at the end please.

For myself, I'm hopeful meaningless exclamations are replacing actual pleas to a theistic divine. I also hope Hawkings's work (evidence) is just more darts that hasten the retreat of theism.

[drfoxcourt]

"The Universe is not only queerer than we imagine, it is queerer than we can imagine." -J Haldane

Concepts of God, not being constrained by a need for evidence, will have a place in human societies. The most ardent atheist will still be influenced by societies of the past, including highly religious ones. Science, however, will cause concepts of God to retreat as evidence is gained. Fewer people will call "Oh God" and mean it.

[baahhhFATALITY11]

Colbert is just kidding. He plays the role of a right-wing/illogical/religious man. But, it's all a joke. Don't take him seriously. His "attacks" are only attacks his character is making, not himself.

[SuperDelusionist]

ummm.. i think the guy cmmenting on this video does not know the meaning of SATIRE :P

COLBERT is MOCKING... not being serious.

[RESIDENTRYAN]

you're videos are really retarded. you dont represent all liberals. its a shame that you get so much attention though.

[duellg]

ghenry has obviously read all of Hawking's (with a "g" ghenry) work. Thank you! No one else has ever studied Hawking's entire body of work and so helpfully refuted it for us. In case there's any doubt, I'm being sarcastic.

[HrMerrlol]

@ghenry85 Hawkins has never taken an IQ test, nor has Einstein, What are you even talking about? Multiverse is not a theory, more of a hypothesis. And I never mentioned that because he's a cripple he is a bad scientist. I am saying the public buy into the idea of a genius cripple scientist. He is known for his image first, then that he IS a scientist, and finally that he DOES science.

Where did you get your information from? This stuff is just blatantly false...