[AustinBill]

Hawking was proof that brilliance in one field does not necessarily translate into common sense in others. Projecting one's personal fears about mortality onto the species says more about the speaker than the topics being espoused.

Presumably Stephen now has a wider perspective on these topics, starting with puzzlement over still having a perspective at all.

[YogicCowboy]

Agreed. I once took a literature class that forbade any essay papers on Christianity.

Yet he assigned multiple reading essays by Albert Einstein misinterpreting theism and Christianity. Einsten was relatively (pun) overrated as a philosdopher.

I took that as rank hypocrisy. I defied the teacher, and wrote rebuttals every time we were assigned such propaganda.

I know the Bible, I know hard science, and I ain’t stupid. The teacher gave me A’s on each one. (I actually ended up with the highest grade in the class.)

I doubt there is such a fair-minded leftist, atheist professor in today’s academic morass.