Please read the quotes below by Dr. David Berlinski, from his book “The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions”
But first note Berlinski’s academic career: After his PhD, Berlinski was a research assistant in the Department of Biology at Columbia University. He has taught philosophy, mathematics and English at Stanford University, Rutgers University, the City University of New York and at the Université de Paris. He was a research fellow at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria and the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHES) in France.
Quote 1: Has anyone provided proof of God’s inexistence? Not even close. Has quantum cosmology explained the emergence of the universe or why it is here? Not even close. Have our sciences explained why our universe seems to be fine-tuned to allow for the existence of life? Not even close. Are physicists and biologists willing to believe in anything so long as it is not religious thought? Close enough. Has rationalism and moral thought provided us with an understanding of what is good, what is right, and what is moral? Not close enough. Has secularism in the terrible 20th century been a force for good? Not even close, to being close. Is there a narrow and oppressive orthodoxy in the sciences? Close enough. Does anything in the sciences or their philosophy justify the claim that religious belief is irrational? Not even in the ball park. Is scientific atheism a frivolous exercise in intellectual contempt? Dead on.
Quote 2: The argument that Hawking has offered may be conveyed by question-and-answer, as in the Catholic catechism.
A Catechism of Quantum Cosmology Q: From what did our universe evolve? A: Our universe evolved from a much smaller, much emptier mini-universe. You may think of it as an egg.
Q: What was the smaller, emptier universe like? A: It was a four-dimensional sphere with nothing much inside it. You may think of that as weird.
Q: How can a sphere have four dimensions? A: A sphere may have four dimensions if it has one more dimension than a three- dimensional sphere. You may think of that as obvious.
Q: Does the smaller, emptier universe have a name? A: The smaller, emptier universe is called a de Sitter universe. You may think of that as about time someone paid attention to de Sitter.
Q: Is there anything else I should know about the smaller, emptier universe? A: Yes. It represents a solution to Einstein’s field equations. You may think of that as a good thing.
Q: Where was that smaller, emptier universe or egg? A: It was in the place where space as we know it did not exist. You may think of it as a sac.
Q: When was it there? A: It was there at the time when time as we know it did not exist. You may think of it as a mystery.
Q: Where did the egg come from? A: The egg did not actually come from anywhere. You may think of this as astonishing.
Q: If the egg did not come from anywhere, how did it get there? A: The egg got there because the wave function of the universe said it was probable. You may think of this as a done deal.
Q: How did our universe evolve from the egg? A: It evolved by inflating itself up from its sac to become the universe in which we now find ourselves. You may think of that as just one of those things.
This catechism, I should add, is not a parody of quantum cosmology. It is quantum cosmology.