Renowned scientist and Gonville and Caius Fellow Stephen Hawking on Sunday dismissed heaven as “a fairy story for people afraid of the dark”, provoking a backlash amongst religious groups.

In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Professor Hawking, 69, completely rejected the possibility of life after death, comparing the human brain to “a computer which will stop working when its components fail.”

These latest comments are the strongest indication yet of a change of heart from the man who, in his bestselling 1988 book, A Brief History Of Time, refused to rule out the possibility of the existence of a god.

No stranger to controversy, this is not the first time that Hawking, who has suffered from motor neurone disease since the age of 21, has made derogatory comments about religious belief.

In an interview with ABC in America last year, he stated, "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.”

Last year, Hawking also made clear in his latest book, The Grand Design, that he felt that the existence of the universe could be explained without resorting to a creator god.

A member of Gonville and Caius Jewish Society, Brett Bernstein, refuted Hawking’s views in a statement to Varsity:

"As Orthodox Jews, we respect his opinion, but cannot give legitimacy to it, based on our unswerving belief in "The World to Come", and its fundamental importance in relation to Judaism's concept of reward and punishment.

"It seems very much that it is in fact [Hawking] who is scared of 'the light.'"

Hawking’s comments have also caused a stir in the wider religious community. 
Stephen Green, director of lobby group Christian Voice, has labelled the Cambridge professor’s viewpoint “dim” stating that: “The comparison to a computer switching off shows a man who is only able to think of things in a materialistic way.”