Steven Hawking was a great man but the glaring flaw in his assessment concerning the existence of the universe is that he doesn't dig deeply enough, which is precisely the problem I see with atheism.

And he of all people should know that when you discount one theory you better have one with which to replace it, or you're just another voice in the crowd.

So no one created the universe? Well then either the universe was created by a thing or not created at all. If the universe was created by a thing then all we have to ask is how was the thing created? It doesn't take long to realize the need for an Uncreated Creator, a Prime Mover, a First Cause, wh**ever you want to call it. That starting point is what people that are open to the possibility of the supernatural call "God".

If the universe was not created, ergo has always existed, apparently in an infinite cycle of Big Bang and Big Crush, well then you deny science as it pertains to our observation of universal expansion, energy and matter vs. gravity. It appears as though there can be no big crush. Hawking said so. Even black holes, which are the bosses of gravity, eventually will evaporate due to Hawking radiation.

Also you would be supporting the doctrine of turtles all the way down.
🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

The belief of a universe with no beginning or end requires a much greater degree of faith than belief in a Creator, and denies the sciences of cosmology, astronomy and astrophysics. Hawking was a huge contributor to these repositories of knowledge.

On the other hand, perhaps a profound fear of the supernatural is responsible for the ignorance and denial of the atheist?