Stephen Hawkings is Smart

Physicist, author, genius and all around smooth playa Stephen Hawkins has written a new book, The Grand Design, in which he states that "the universe can and will create itself from nothing", "Spontaneous creation is the reason why 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 [fuse] and set the universe going,"

This is pretty significant.  Arguably the worlds greatest mind is coming out on the side of cold brutal logic. Mr. Hawkins new stance could open the eyes of millions and I am all for it. We need more people of his ilk to essentially "come out of the closet" and give weight to a line of reasoning that the majority hush because it is either unpleasant or to difficult for them to grasp.

Unfortunately even with the great scientific fame of Stephen Hawkings this message may be derailed. Denis Alexander, one of Hawkings' Cambridge colleagues seems to shoo away the uncomfortable/icky things that Hawkings said by watering them down. "The 'god' that Stephen Hawking is trying to debunk is not the creator God of the Abrahamic faiths who really is the ultimate explanation for why there is something rather than nothing", Hawkings' god is a god-of-the-gaps used to plug present gaps in our scientific knowledge."

I disagree. Hawkings statements seem pretty clear. I understand Mr. Alexanders desire to try to step back from comments like "God isn't real" (I just said that not Hawkings). People will demonize anyone that hints at such a notion but this attempt to make some room for god in Hawkings statements will only damage them. This is not clarification, this is cowardly.

Hopefully Dr. Hawkings will clarify/reinforce his statements. Otherwise the apologists will be around forever.