Stephen Hawking has died at the age of 76.

[Mister Agenda]

The British charity for ALS (what they refer to as Motor Neuron Disease) crashed from all the donations made in Halwking's name. He was a great inspiration for ALS sufferers, a man who was supposed to be dead by 25 living to 76 and accomplishing great things in science to boot.

[Norfolk And Chance]

If he had been a theist, his surviving ALS for almost 50 years would be considered a sign of divine favor by many.

Thank fuck he was an atheist!

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How fucking stupid, and I am sure many of these same theists are on other websites threatening atheists with hell if they die not believing. 

Hawking is only in our memories now, he isn't in an afterlife just like he didn't exist 4 billion years ago.

How do you know that?

How does he know what? That Hawking didn't exist 4 billion years ago? Or that Hawking isn't in an afterlife now?

Well the first one is easy to answer - we know Hawking didn't exist 4 billion years ago because he was born in 1942.

As for the afterlife thing - well there is no evidence to support claims that there is a such thing as an afterlife, and no reason to believe therefore that he is now in an afterlife. The rational thing to believe is that it simply doesn't exist until solid evidence proves it's existence. Yes, I know that believing that there is no afterlife is not the same as knowing it, before you point that out.

I have several problems with the concept of life after death...

Why bother with 3 score and 10 years of physical life, if you have a life afterwards? 

Some believe you're re-incarnated, some believe the afterlife is eternal. How can it be eternal if even the universe will end one day?

If you die and are re-incarnated, why? To what end, to learn from mistakes made in past lives? If so why do 7 billion of us, except a few, have no memory of previous lives?

If a person goes to the afterlife, where is it and how does he get there? Every dead person I've seen or heard about has stayed dead.

We know the physical body doesn't go to the afterlife, that's obviously a fact. So it's the soul right? But what is a soul, what physical properties does it have? Why would a soul be locked in a body during the duration of it's life, then magically can find the escape route when the body dies? If the soul is capable of existence outside a living body, and having an afterlife, then the soul does not need to have an actual life in a body, in the first place, which loops back to my first question..

[Succubus]

How fucking stupid, and I am sure many of these same theists are on other websites threatening atheists with hell if they die not believing. 

Hawking is only in our memories now, he isn't in an afterlife just like he didn't exist 4 billion years ago.

How do you know that?

Then a troll appears up and fucks up a perfectly decent thread.

[RoadRunner79]

How do you know that?

Then a troll appears up and fucks up a perfectly decent thread.

Certain atheists seem unable to help themselves. You get used to it... kind of.

[Anomalocaris]

The scientific community has suffered a great loss today.

Billy Graham died less than a month ago and it was no loss at all.

And one could only wish his son would follow him to whichever heaven nothingness goes as expeditiously as possible.

[Jehanne]

Then a troll appears up and fucks up a perfectly decent thread.

Certain atheists seem unable to help themselves. You get used to it... kind of.

Let's let this thread be about Professor Stephen Hawking.

[Catholic_Lady]

Sad day. He stands as a great testimony too, that we shouldn't discount people with disabilities, or decide that their life isn't worth living. Grateful for his contribution to the world, and may his legacy live on.

[WinterHold]

The first time I ever get a stab in the heart for a total stranger.
His carrying on in life was not just remarkable, it was more. Inspirational man, and a great loss for all of humanity; not just the scientific community.

[RoadRunner79]

Certain atheists seem unable to help themselves. You get used to it... kind of.

Let's let this thread be about Professor Stephen Hawking.

So not using it to disrespect the late Rev. Graham then. Or politicizing it to make claims that one cannot support and to attack Christians.

Professor Hawking was a very intelligent man. It was amazing what he did, and what he worked through in health difficulties and to do the things that he did. In many ways; I think how he handled himself in light of what the disease took from him; is more impressive than the his other work.

[Angrboda]

Meh. Everyone is talking about what a great man he was. I bet I could have taken him in a thumb war if I'd been given the chance.