{"id":1778,"date":"2010-09-28T08:44:06","date_gmt":"2010-09-28T13:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=1778"},"modified":"2010-09-28T09:06:55","modified_gmt":"2010-09-28T14:06:55","slug":"1778","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=1778","title":{"rendered":"The Fifth Horseman"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 9\/11, four atheists started to write books criticizing religion. While the media has dubbed these atheists \u201cNew Atheists,\u201d Sam Harris<\/a>, Richard Dawkins<\/a>, Christopher Hitchens<\/a>, and Daniel Dennett<\/a> have jokingly labeled themselves as \u201cThe Four Horsemen of Atheism.\u201d Now I think there is a fifth horseman, Stephen Hawking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the month, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow<\/a> released their new book, \u201cThe Grand Design.\u201d While I have not yet read the book, according to reviews and interviews the book seems to address the First Cause argument. According to the Multi-verse Theory described in the book, God becomes unnecessary in the role of Prime Mover. While Leonard Mlodinow insists in interviews that they are not arguing against the possibility of a God, just the necessity of a God, Stephen Hawking has made no apologies.<\/p>\n

While promoting the book, Hawking has been extremely critical of religion. One of my favorite of his criticisms was when he stated, \u201cThere is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority and science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interestingly enough, before promoting the book, Leonard Mlodinow was vocal in his criticism of religion. During the Nightline debate between Sam Harris and Deepak Chopra<\/a>, Mlodinow was in the audience and had some questions for Deepak. He actually grilled him on the issue of Quantum Mechanics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But on the book tour, it is clear that Mlodinow is playing good cop and Stephen Hawking is playing the bad cop. This is why I now consider Hawking to be the Fifth Horseman.
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