"The Grand Design," a new book from physicists Stephen Hawking and Leonard Moldinow, has gotten a lot of buzz for its argument that God is not required in the formation of the universe.

Moldinow was on "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" (weekdays, 8 PM ET on MSNBC) and he laid out the book's thesis:

"The book is about two main questions: where did the universes come from and why are the laws of nature what they are?" Moldinow explained. "And we give scientific answers to these questions, and from those answers we conclude that God is not necessary for either of those."

"That's all we say, we don't pretend to prove that there is no God ... we don't even say God didn't create the universe. We just say that God is not necessary as an answer to those questions."