Did Einstein believe in God?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Rayray on January 14, 2010 at 12:15pm

Being that Einstein was perhaps one of the greatest minds ever, I would say that it would be a good idea to know what he thought about ALL issues whether or not you agreed with him.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on January 14, 2010 at 8:28am

How about this:

“The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.”
-Albert Einstein (letter written by Albert Einstein to the philosopher Eric Gutkind in January 1954)

That do?

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by thedogma on January 14, 2010 at 8:36am

yep, quoted it. You'd be surprised what people can rationalize away. I'm convinced. But the naysayers, not so much.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rob N on January 14, 2010 at 10:40am

"I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings." (Albert Einstein)

Following his wife's advice in responding to Rabbi Herbert Goldstein of the International Synagogue in New York, who had sent Einstein a cablegram bluntly demanding Do you believe in God?

This website has quite a lot of good quotes:
http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Albert-Einstein-Quotes.htm

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by thedogma on January 14, 2010 at 10:43am

very woo-woo, isn't it?

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rayray on January 14, 2010 at 12:17pm

From a correspondence between Ensign Guy H. Raner and Albert Einstein in 1945 and 1949. Einstein responds to the accusation that he was converted by a Jesuit priest: "I have never talked to a Jesuit priest in my life. I am astonished by the audacity to tell such lies about me. From the viewpoint of a Jesuit priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist." "I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one.You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from religious indoctrination received in youth." Freethought Today, November 2004

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sonny Mobley on January 14, 2010 at 1:15pm

He sais quite specifically that the only concept of god that he had is the embodiment of the laws of the universe. He was an atheist. No doubt. From what I understand his few struggles with religion were due to the devotion of his wife.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Robert Fleming on February 1, 2010 at 3:04pm

I have over the years read all the Einstein quotations. He meets my personal definition of atheist.

"I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one.”

I get the sense from the whole body of quotes that he used the word “god” in much the same way that I might use the designation “mother nature”; that is as a sort of personification of the universe and the laws of nature.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rayray on February 1, 2010 at 3:10pm

That seems to be the consensus. He used the word "God" as a metaphor. He never meant it to be anything supernatural, only natural.

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page