Atheists seem very eager to claim Einstein for one of their own. Richard Dawkins devotes a whole section to Einstein in The God Delusion and Christopher Hitchens' Portable Atheist is peppered with Einstein quotations seemingly rejecting all belief in God. Recently an Einstein letter surfaced which showed the great scientist scorning the idea that the Jews were in any sense God's chosen people.
But all that these quotations prove is that Einstein was not an orthodox believer. He rejected the idea of a personal God "who would directly influence the actions of individuals or would sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation." Einstein also rejeted the immortality of the soul, noting that "one life is enough for me."
At the same time, Walter Isaacson in his celebrated new biography Einstein provides ample evidence that Einstein not only believed in a higher or transcendent power, but also that Einstein despised atheists. Here are some quotations, drawn from Isaacson's book with full documentation, that I offer as a needed counterbalance to the one-sided list provided by Dawkins, Hitchens and the others.
On whether he considered himself religious: "Yes, you could call it that. Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this foce beyond anything we can comprehend is my religion."
On whether he accepted the historical existence of Christ: "Unquestionably! No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life."
On whether he considered himself an atheist: "I'm not an atheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what that is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of the most intelligent human toward God."
On the nature of God: "That deeply emotional conviction of a presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God."
On whether science leads to religion: "Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of nature--a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort."
On how religion motivates scientific inquiry: "The cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research."
On whether science and religion are at odds: "The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
On how he feels about atheist efforts to claim him as an ally: "There are people who say there is no God, but what makes me really angry is that they quote me for support of such views."
On how he regards atheists: "The fanatical atheists...are creatures who cannot her the music of the spheres. I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist. What separates me from most so-called atheists is a feeling of utter humility toward the unattainable secrets of the harmony of the cosmos."
Reader Comments ( Page 5 of 24)
61. Renzo, I am looking forward to your one sided paternalistic circular logic arguments on how you and Einstein are on the same belief page.
JefFlyingV at 5:12PM on May 21st 2008
62. I really don't think any of us can say what Einstein believed. He isn't here to say for himself anymore. So what is the point in trying to say he was either an atheist or a Christian. God knows and that is what matters. Einstein's life is over here on earth and has gone on to another place. Where he is, only God knows. I don't think it is really our place to say what someone believed when they are gone and are not here to defend themselves.
Denise at 5:15PM on May 21st 2008
63. "Why do all of you christians swallow DD's spoom so readily?"
Linda your quotes don't provide much other than support for DD's second paragraph above.
bigTuna at 5:21PM on May 21st 2008
64. Denise,
"So what is the point in trying to say he was either an atheist or a Christian."
He was neither, but it was clever how you tried to use neutrality to segue into your proponing of deism. God only knows if god exists. [smile]
Mokele Mbembe at 5:22PM on May 21st 2008
65. 54. "You know, for every quote Isaacson has regarding Einstein's "theism", there are just as many quotes refuting that."
>>
I find no quotes where Einstein refutes 'his theism'. I do find many quotes where he sees organized religion as absurd. I find nothing but a cogent argument for theism. If you found a statement where he backs away from his library of many languages that humans are only beginning to read THEISM... please share it. Thanks.
Thomas J Gassett at 5:25PM on May 21st 2008
66. I love how everyone is like "IN YOUR FACE DINESH HE DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT A CHRISTIAN GOD!"
I didn't read anything Dinesh wrote to imply that Einstein supported a judeo-christian god or organized religion of any kind. He simply wrote the evidence that Einstein was not, in fact, an atheist.
kristin at 5:27PM on May 21st 2008
67. I'm gonna go home and root for Archuleta. Cook has too much of an "I'm so AWESOME" complex going on if you ask me. I miss Syesha... [sniffle]
If you want my answer on anything related to today's topic, just read my posts over again. That's only a few pages of CTRL^F.
Bye. [exits through wormhole]
Mokele Mbembe at 5:31PM on May 21st 2008
68. Darn Renzo, I would have put money on Vestal Virgin!
Please tell us that 'witch-doctor' is not totally out of the question! I'd feel better, knowing that you had danced around your PC with a rattle and ranted something to the effect that I 'couldn't' lose at poker for a month!
Just one month is all I'm asking, please can't you dedicate your entire life to witch-doctory... for me. :-)
not-pboyfloyd at 5:37PM on May 21st 2008
69. No one can argue that Einstein was indeed a great thinker but as an Atheist myself, I have never looked to Einstein or anyone else for that matter to justify or validate my Atheism so fuck you Dinesh and your lame ass attempt to once again do what you do best: Sow hatred and dissent.
I have always believed that Einstein was a believer and not an atheist merely because of his famous pronouncement against quantum physics: “God does not play dice.”
By the way I’m always suspicious when I see three periods smack dab in the middle of a quote.
EX: “The fanatical atheists...are creatures who cannot here the music of the spheres.”
So I did a little research and dug up the full quote:
“The fanatical atheists are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after a hard struggle. They are creatures who in their grudge against traditional religion as the ‘opium of the masses’ -- cannot hear the music of the spheres.”
In the full statement, Einstein even while denigrating Atheists all but admits that the Atheist’s disdain for religion is due to persecution at the hands of dogmatic believers. It should also not be lost on Dinesh that Einstein chose to clarify that he was talking about “fanatical” Atheists and not about Atheists in general, a distinction Dinesh fails to make post after post.
I must remind you all that Dinesh is an educated man supposedly trained to debate effectively as this is necessary for his profession, which is punditry. We all know that professional pundits are only interested in winning debates in an effort to spread their views and this is not the same as seeking truth. A pundit might call upon facts to support his claim even if he is aware of facts that will deflate his argument, in such cases the debater hopes to rely on the weakness of the counter debater’s skills and this I suspect is the reason why Dinesh failed to fully elaborate on Einstein’s religious views.
Dinesh in his desperate attempts to validate religion at any cost will cling to any nonsense no matter how negatively it reflects on the very idea of believing. We had Pascal’s wager one week, fear of Islamic terrorists the next week and now we have Einstein’s own belief in God no matter how radically divergent his views may be from those of Dinesh.
Had Dinesh done just five more minutes of research or be fully honest, he would also have had to admit that though Einstein was a believer his views regarding the existence of God and how that God operated were wildly out of synch with those of a Catholic neocon, “take personal responsibility for your own destiny” fetishist such as Dinesh.
Einstein believed in causal determinism, which is another way of saying that he did not believe in free will. He once said: “Human beings in their thinking, feeling and acting are not free but are as causally bound as the stars in their motions.”
While it is true that he once also stated “I am compelled to act as if free will existed because if I wish to live in a civilized society I must act responsibly.” This statement itself expresses his notion that free will did not exist because he had to feel compelled that it did and incidentally, the above statement was made only after he was chided for this belief because after all if free will did not exist what would be the point of acting morally.
Einstein essentially takes personal responsibility for ones supposed sins out of the equation which is a direct contradiction to nearly all of Dinesh’s childishly simplistic rants about gays, atheists, liberals etc…etc..
But then again Dinesh can take comfort in the belief in causal determinism because it provides him with and an excuse to keep being an asshole.
rabidmccain at 5:42PM on May 21st 2008
70. Great, Dinesh. So we can all agree that Einstein was NOT Christian, and in fact thought your religion was childish. Thanks for finally settling that 'dispute.' I look forward to linking this blog post in regards to stupid, uneducated, spoon-fed Christians who try to take intelligent, well-educated, scientific icons and make them out to be Christians when they are not.
K at 5:44PM on May 21st 2008
71.
It seems to me, that if one rejects God/designer one must embrace the theory of infinite universes. That when the Big Bang occurred infinite universes were created, not simply this one.
The theory goes something like this.
WE exist in this universe, not because it was designed in a way that allows life to exist, but because it's the one universe out of infinite universes where we can exist.
Meaning that with infinite universes you can find one like ours that seems to have been designed for us, but in fact is simply one possibility in an infinity of possibilities. Conclusion: There is either a designer or infinite universes.
Does this make any sense or am I off on a cosmic tangent?
Thomas J Gassett at 5:57PM on May 21st 2008
72. gardami: what?
There is no "viewpoint" in atheism. Every single atheist has his or her own perspective on how or why there is no supernatural deity.
It is very easy for me. I have never believed in any deity. And my experience is different from every other atheist and there is no "authority" on atheism.
DD is the one who wants "his view" to be better than the "atheist's view". His agenda is to find a group to demonize so he can promote his right wing neocon agenda.
Atheism requires no "faith", simply because there is nary a smidgeon of proof for any diety.
"Faith" is believing in something that has nary a smidgeon of proof.
Linda at 6:00PM on May 21st 2008
73. Hi Dinesh, recently on antique's roadshow a person presented a letter from Einstein with documentary evidence that Einstein said that the only people that opposed the Nazi's were the Christian's. A copy of that letter would be useful to complement your story and Isaacson's book. Thank you.
JEmbs at 6:01PM on May 21st 2008
74. Gassett,
Why? A third possibility is the earth and everything in it evolved through natural selection of species with the best adaptations/mutations for survival, making the earth APPEAR designed. The earth is just a place with the potential to host life, and life occured. To me its obvious the universe wasn't designed - all that empty space, inhabitable planets, black holes, meteors floating through space threatening to crash into our planet, the fact that stars 'die' and our own sun is destined to burn out... how does that point to a universe tailored for human existance?
K at 6:04PM on May 21st 2008
75. Gassett says," Conclusion: There is either a designer or infinite universes.
Does this make any sense or am I off on a cosmic tangent?"
I think that you are just playing wordgames here.
Let me show you why...
a) can you imagine an infinite universe?
b) can you imagine an infinitely old, always changing universe?
c) can you imagine an infinitely powerful God?
d) can you imagine an infinitely knowledgable God?
If you said 'no' to the first two and 'yes' to the second two, then it is just a matter of definition for you.
You have defined 'universe' as 'not infinite' and defined 'God' as 'infinite'.
Word game.
not-pboyfloyd at 6:14PM on May 21st 2008