My INTP-mind's answer:
I respect Stephen Hawking highly as a scientist. But, I am confident that, as a scientist, he would find it ridiculous if a theologian who hadn't studied quantum physics full-time for several years, and who didn't know the subject in any depth, of the works of the major quantum physicists in the various fields, claimed it was a fairy story, to keep atheists from being afraid of the big 'out there'. I am equally confident that if he has actually thought about the matter rationally, then he has applied the same logic to religion. I have read some of those sources, and they explained the origins of the universe, in ways that are uncannily close to the views of quantum physics, but predate it by centuries. So I seriously doubt that he even knows the various in-depth viewpoints of even the major religions, like Xianity, Judaism, and Islam, let alone in any great depth. His life story doesn't leave any room for him having studied theology full-time for several years either. So, I am forced to conclude that he simply hasn't considered both sides equally. That then raises the question of how he could be so rational about physics, and yet so irrational about religion. However, psychology comes to answer this question.
Albert Bandura did much research into the effects of self-efficacy and the lack of it. What he found, was that when you look at the behaviour of people who are completing a task, and have low self-efficacy in that task, namely, that one doesn't believe that one is likely to succeed in that task, one is seriously under-motivated, that is, one puts in a far lower effort, and when confronted with the smallest of difficulties, one is quick to assume that the task is impossible, and what is even more astounding, one actually doesn't even think about the subject matter rationally, that is, one doesn't even bother to make the reasonable mental effort of working out what to do, making the task well-nigh impossible, because one is approaching it in a ridiculous way.
There are many examples of this sort of behaviour, such as that seen in people who are suffering from clinical depression, and anyone who believes they lack the ability to achieve something that others believe is possible, and even where people believe that a task is impossible or unrealistic, and others believe that the task is realistically achievable.
The reason for this is quite simple: our brains cannot work out what to do in reality, because reality is outside of us. So, in order to work things out, our brains have to work things out in an inner simulation, which it does subconsciously. However, where do we get the info for that simulation? From our conscious selves. Our conscious selves "program" the rules of our subconscious simulations of reality, and then our subconscious can work out the details of how it works. Once our subconscious reaches a particular conclusion, that too goes into the rules of the simulation. However, when our brain absorbs new information, to update the simulation, that information can only be fitted into the simulation, and so must be forced to fit the rules of the simulation.
As a result, the decisions that our conscious selves transmit to our subconscious, the defines the rules that program our simulations, act as a filter, that either re-interprets all new data to fit the previous rules, or they are rejected, sometimes even without us being aware of it. The result is what is known as cognitive dissonance, when people reject clear evidence, if it contradicts the previous information their conscious fed into their subconscious minds.
Sometimes, the mind is forced to accept that the evidence shows their previous rules are wrong. However, it has the same effect as proving that an extremely complicated aircraft simulation game is fundamentally wrong. Where do you start? Which rules exactly are wrong? The simulation is so integrated, that taking it apart and figuring out exactly which rules are wrong, could take years, and in the meantime, the simulation is unavailable. There is an exact parallel to when this happens to people, that people develop an almost complete inability to make any decisions, and consequently show an inability to do anything, even the smallest of tasks, and stay this way for years, until they develop a whole new way of looking at life, and mysteriously 'come out it', but without anyone knowing exactly how or why, not even psychologists. We call this a nervous breakdown.
The consequences of re-thinking the simulation, cause such a major problem, that they reduce the person to the situation of a helpless child, for years. In a less-structured and integrated society, this would have almost certainly led to the person's death, because they lacked the ability to look after themselves.
But the survival instinct is there to protect us. So the brain MUST avoid such a seriously life-threatening situation as a mental breakdown, if it can. So, the brain will do whatever it has to, to protect itself from having to make such a re-evaluation. It MUST force the user to force all new data into the existing sim, or reject it, or risk serious chance of death. So even if the brain KNOWS that the evidence is incontrovertible, it must support the sim. The alternative is just too dangerous in practice.
In this case, the task Stephen Hawking set himself, was to evaluate whether or not theism was compatible with modern quantum physics. He is an atheist. As long as he maintained that religious people were just as capable of being intelligent and rational human beings as himself, then he would have been up to the task. But the minute that he chose to describe religious people as believing in nonsense, he was subconsciously assuming the position that no sentient being would ever be capable of consistent rational thought, and that would have automatically resulted in the behaviour that Bandura had already proved happened in such circumstances.
There is a serious danger when you assume things too hard and fast, especially when it's about things that you don't know about, and especially when it makes definitive claims about other people's abilities. Your subconscious can end up twisting the truth into a pretzel, just to keep you from having a breakdown, and the worst of it, is that because it's your subconscious doing it, and not your conscious, you don't even know.
