Now it is Newton, Einstein and Hawking, only two of which thought that there was an underlying God at work.

More interesting are the Aristotelian comments on the soul, which still find their way into Aquinas and Catholic Doctrine (they certainly did in my Ethics class in Catholic College - not sure how this had anything to do with being pre-law).  Because the soul is a philosophical concept, these observations must be taken seriously, even the ones on astrology (nothing to do with cosmology, everything to do with studying human nature and how paganism relates to psychology).  If the soul is the life force rather than the ability to think or experience consciousness, then ensoulment must occur when the genes of both parents kick in and begin organized development - which is gastrulation, not conception.  The problem with the Church is that it is invested in the conception marker and cannot bear to admit it is wrong, lest its entire authority be suspect.