Hawking’s religious views were not limited to a single faith. He held that all religions were founded on the same foundations of faith and provided no empirical evidence. He is an atheist.

Hawking expanded on his thoughts about the universe’s origins in his book “The Grand Design,” which he co-wrote with Leonard Mlodinow. He claimed that the universe was created by the principles of physics rather than by a divine creator.

“Because there is a law like gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing,” he wrote. “There is something rather than nothing; the universe exists, and we exist because of spontaneous creation.”

Hawking’s beliefs about the afterlife were also scientifically based. He thought the idea of an afterlife was nothing more than wishful thinking. He wrote in his final book, “Brief Answers to the Big Questions,”

“No one created the universe or controlled our destiny.” This brings me to a stunning realization: there is likely no Heaven or afterlife…I believe that believing in an afterlife is wishful thinking. There is no trustworthy evidence, and it contradicts all we know about science.”

However, Hawking does not discard other people’s beliefs to impose his own. “We are all free to believe whatever we want, and in my opinion, the simplest explanation is that there is no God,” he said.