Stephen Hawking: God Did Not Create Universe

Updated: Wednesday, 01 Sep 2010, 6:01 PM MDT
Published : Wednesday, 01 Sep 2010, 6:01 PM MDT

(NewsCore) - Does the universe need a creator?

According to Britain's most eminent scientist Stephen Hawking on Wednesday, the answer is a resounding "no."

Modern physics leaves no place for God in the creation of the universe, the acclaimed physicist has concluded in his new book "The Grand Design" -- parts of which were excerpted to the media Wednesday evening.

Far from being a once-in-a-million event that could only be accounted for by extraordinary serendipity or a divine hand, the Big Bang was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, Hawking argues.

“Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing," Hawking writes. "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,â€