Is Stephen Hawking an atheist?

One of Prager's callers asserted that he is. I read somewhere that while Hawking isn't exactly religious, he does think there is some kind of intelligent force behind the universe. In other words, a person. But if that's the case, I'm sure Hawking has never encountered him.

I think the assertion that was an atheist is mostly liberal wishful thinking. Leftists seem to think it is damaging to their point of view whenever any great scientist admits to seeing "an intelligent force" behind the universe, so they like to claim all the great scientists, economists, political leaders, and scientists for the atheist camp, and continue to call the rest of us "stupid" for "believing in sky fairies" (the most damaging and contemptuous term they could come up with without out and out name-calling).