RIP Stephen Hawking

[Virgo]

Stephen Hawking's Ashes to be Interred in Westminster Abbey alongside Darwin and Isaac Newton.

Ironic for a well-known Atheist to be honoured by the Christian church in this way.

That is a good point. It is ironic, Venerable.

Kevin

[Lucas Oliveira]

Colossal cosmic collision alters understanding of early universe

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spac ... SKBN1HW31C

https://newatlas.com/galactic-cluster-m ... rse/54365/

[Kim OHara]

Stephen Hawking's Ashes to be Interred in Westminster Abbey alongside Darwin and Isaac Newton.

Ironic for a well-known Atheist to be honoured by the Christian church in this way.

It was probably members of the "Establishment" including Theresa May who opted for the Abbey. The C of E is happy to officiate at the send off of anyone of any faith (subject to last wishes or those of relatives) and would also have said the minimum apropriate words over him at the local crematorium.

Very appropriate for him to end up in a black hole, though.

Westminster Abbey is the UK's de facto State Mausoleum as well as an Anglican church. There's really no other place of equivalent status for a permanent memorial, as far as I can see, and I doubt that there will be one for a very long time. In each case the questions will be the same: do we show respect for this person's achievements and ignore their religious views if they are atheist, Muslim, Buddhist, etc? Or vice versa?
I know - separation of state and religion and all that, not ideal but ...


Kim

[Sam Vara]

Stephen Hawking's Ashes to be Interred in Westminster Abbey alongside Darwin and Isaac Newton.

Ironic for a well-known Atheist to be honoured by the Christian church in this way.

It was probably members of the "Establishment" including Theresa May who opted for the Abbey. The C of E is happy to officiate at the send off of anyone of any faith (subject to last wishes or those of relatives) and would also have said the minimum apropriate words over him at the local crematorium.

Very appropriate for him to end up in a black hole, though.

Westminster Abbey is the UK's de facto State Mausoleum as well as an Anglican church. There's really no other place of equivalent status for a permanent memorial, as far as I can see, and I doubt that there will be one for a very long time. In each case the questions will be the same: do we show respect for this person's achievements and ignore their religious views if they are atheist, Muslim, Buddhist, etc? Or vice versa?
I know - separation of state and religion and all that, not ideal but ...


Kim

There are many other ways of memorialising someone, some of them far higher in public profile than the final resting place. We will probably see university buildings, Cambridge science Chairs, bequests, and films all with "Hawking" somewhere in the title. We don't know whether Hawking's views were ignored; perhaps he was asked where he wanted his ashes to be placed. It would in any case be difficult for an atheist materialist to argue convincingly that it actually matters where some dust goes in the future.