Stephen Hawking shows his anti-religious attitude

When Hawking was asked if religion and science could be reconciled  he said. "There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, and science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works." However this not an accurate statement since it is not totally accurate of ether science or religion.

An example of this is that while Christians see the Bible authoritative, reading and understanding the Bible is up to the individual Christian and not just ministers. Further more Christians are not required to take a pastor’s preaching at face value but are encouraged to compare every statement to the Bible to see if he is right. Even more important much of the Bible is a result of the observation of events often witnessed by the human authors themselves. For example the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not some vision but on the reports of men and women who saw the risen Jesus themselves. Even today we can go to Jerusalem in Israel and observe the empty tomb for ourselves.  

On the other hand while it is true science is ideally based on observation and reason, that is not always the case. Stephen Hawking himself is actually a good example of this. He personally does little if any actual observation, and most of his work is the result of theorizing within his mind. Also little if any of Hawking's work produces testable predictions that are ever successfully tested by observation. Despite all this Hawking is seen as an authority in science and their are people who take his every word as truth with as much unquestioning faith as is seen in the most gullible regions person you could know does with their pastor.

The point is that in his nterview by ABC news, he showed a clear contempt for religion, and there by has shown the real source of conflict between science and religion and that it is the atheistic control of establishment institutions.