(CNN) -- Theology is unnecessary. So says Stephen Hawking, the world-famous physicist who controversially argues in a new book that God did not create the universe.
"God may exist, but science can explain the universe without the need for a creator," Hawking told CNN's "Larry King Live" in an interview that aired Friday.
Hawking, 68, says in his book "The Grand Design" that, given the existence of gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. "Spontaneous creation," he writes, is the reason why the universe and humanity exist.
"Gravity and quantum theory cause universes to be created spontaneously out of nothing," Hawking told Larry King.
King asked Hawking why he thinks people have reacted so strongly to his book.
"Science is increasingly answering questions that used to be the province of religion," Hawking replied. "The scientific account is complete. Theology is unnecessary".
Hawking said his book is an attempt to give a "broad picture of how the universe operates and our place in it. It is a basic human desire and it also puts our worries in perspective".
The idea behind it is "M-theory," which, he says, allows there to be many universes that were created out of nothing, none of which required the intervention of God.
CNN
