So I’ve had quite a few people try to tell me that Albert Einstein was a Christian. As one person commented on the blog: something along the lines of, “Einstein was a Christian, what makes you think you’re smarter than him?” It was of course riddled with grammar and spelling mistakes and likely came from a 14 year old that really didn’t know much about Einstein at all. I never claimed to be smarter than Einstein, as I definitely am not - the large majority of people aren’t. In any case I responded with a quote that should have shaken her off of any notion that Einstein is a Christian.
I’ve decided to post some of his quotes - as many of them are very interesting.
“It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.”
This was a response to an atheist who wrote him questioning his famous quote, “I cannot believe that God plays dice with the cosmos.”
“Why do you write to me ‘God should punish the English’? I have no close connection to either one or the other. I see only with deep regret that God punishes so many of His children for their numerous stupidities, for which only He Himself can be held responsible; in my opinion, only His nonexistence could excuse Him.”
“I do not believe that a man should be restrained in his daily actions by being afraid of punishment after death or that he should do things only because in this way he will be rewarded after he dies. This does not make sense. The proper guidance during the life of a man should be the weight that he puts upon ethics and the amount of consideration that he has for others.”
“The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.”
Hmm, this is an interesting one - anyone have any thoughts on this?
“I cannot accept any concept of God based on the fear of life or the fear of death or blind faith. I cannot prove to you that there is no personal God, but if I were to speak of him I would be a liar.”
“Mere unbelief in a personal God is no philosophy at all.”
Also interesting and relevant to atheism I think. Of course, many of us probably have our own personal philosophies that extend beyond unbelief.
“My position concerning God is that of an agnostic. I am convinced that a vivid consciousness of the primary importance of moral principles for the betterment and ennoblement of life does not need the idea of a law-giver, especially a law-giver who works on the basis of reward and punishment.”
“The idea of a personal God is quite alien to me and seems even naive.”
“It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I feel also not able to imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. My views are near those of Spinoza: admiration for the beauty of and belief in the logical simplicity of the order which we can grasp humbly and only imperfectly. I believe that we have to content ourselves with our imperfect knowledge and understanding and treat values and moral obligations as a purely human problem - the most important of all human problems.”
“I am a deeply religious nonbeliever…. This is a somewhat new kind of religion.”
This quote is quite interesting as it seems to be an argument that has arisen recently - is atheism a religion in itself?
“I believe in Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings.”
“I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it.”
“It is quite possible that we can do greater things than Jesus, for what is written in the Bible about him is poetically embellished.”
“I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own - a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms.”
To finish it off, I’ll leave this quote:
“In view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what really makes me angry is that they quote me for the support of such views.”
These quotes are in no way meant to “support” the idea that there is no God. They are simply meant to support the fact that Einstein was not a Christian and show how he felt about the world. I’m sure many of us feel the same way as many of these quotes show, so I posted this as an interesting glimpse of Einstein’s views.
If you’d like to read more pick up the book: The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever
November 16th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Interesting, I didn’t know what Einstein thought about God.
As a Christian I agree with so much of what you quoted from him. No person should just live on blind faith, we should all pursue truth, whatever that is, wherever it is found (bits of truth are found in a range of places, including most/all religions). We should pursue what is good and most importantly, what is loving.
Our actions - as Christians or atheists or whatever we are - should be based in love and respect for others - never in a mere desire to escape eternal death or punishment. There are people who are Christians for a range or pretty lousy reasons. But there are a lot of people who are Christians for good reasons IMO, having tested Christianity and other belief systems, and having found it the most rational and ‘truthful’ explanation for life, and their personal experiences.
I enjoyed this article, thank you! I always find it funny when I agree with so much of what an atheist or agnostic (or a person from another religion) thinks. I think there is far, far more we have in common at the end of the day, than we have in differences.
November 19th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
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December 9th, 2009 at 10:46 am
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January 9th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
I always heard he was an agonostic. Maybe he was a little of both. Great article.
January 25th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
In my view and observation from the quotes of eintein his religion was none other than humanitarian. he believed in God at the same time he believed in the sacredness of human powers.
January 30th, 2010 at 9:56 am
It is better to be a human rather than differentiating in any kinda relation. We are born together even god has not distinguished between us so how can we distinguish between us.
February 17th, 2010 at 5:40 am
This is indeed a great post! I loved it!
February 26th, 2010 at 12:18 am
This used to be a do follow blog. and i have found it on a few do follow blog lists. but since it is no longer a do follow blog i will report it so it can be deleted off of those lists
March 22nd, 2010 at 11:53 pm
Isaac newton, Galileo Galilei,Louis Pasteur,Antoine Laurent Lavoisier,Nicolaus Copernicus,James Clerk Maxwell,Erwin Schrodinger,Andreas Vesalius,Max Planck,Enrico Fermi,Leonard Euler,Alexander Fleming I could go on and on and on and on, really I could but hey what makes you think your clever than all them ! :p
Only teasing but the vast majority of the above were Christians, now I always thought Einstein was agnostic not a christian but I have heard that there was meant to be a conversion near the end of his life but I don’t know if thats true so I don’t promote that to people.(today is different as we are talking of such things)
Sometimes I wonder why I even get into these ‘discussions’ because I know that I am justified by faith so it’s all cool ‘n’ the gang but I also know you won’t understand this and that there is nothing I can do to help you understand that, but pray for you. I will leave you with this:
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
2: timothy 3:7
I won’t be coming to talk on this any further so don’t bother responding for my sake. Have a great week.
March 26th, 2010 at 12:49 am
@smith you know why the bible made the statement about its truth been hidden from great minds and revealed to clowns…? well that’s because it wanted to keep on deceiving the clowns because, of course only the somewhat beautiful minds will ever know its flaws
April 9th, 2010 at 9:15 am
this is interesting! thanks a lot for sharing!
April 14th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Good read, you bring up some good quotes. All I know is that Einstein was a smart guy.
April 19th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
some good quotes.
May 24th, 2010 at 2:17 am
” “I am a deeply religious nonbeliever…. This is a somewhat new kind of religion.”
This quote is quite interesting as it seems to be an argument that has arisen recently - is atheism a religion in itself? ”
I understand where he’s coming from, I am deeply spiritual in the fact of how amazing the universe is, how we got here, how everything came to be and being alive itself..emotions, love, it’s all awesome.
There can also be morals, joy, love and a fulfilling life outisde of religion[s] but it just requires a joy for life and the ability to be honest with yourself.
Religion, actually is an easy way to act nice. Although it might be tempting to not be nice while being a part of a religion as some say without one it nearly gets rid of it all together (for me anyway) because you hold yourself accountable, not out of fear of punishment.
Anyway, droning on aside, I quite enjoyed the article although citing sources would have been appreciated.
July 5th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
well nice article ! but according to me in 1900’s the period of ongoing discoveries in science and technology might have made him believe that all you see has to be true only if you’re able to prove it by some means of formula’s or similar things, so he didnt find any valid reason, rather no body found out a proof regarding the existence of god ?so that might have led him think of non existing holy powers but at the same time he believed that there exist something supernatural, well many of us call it as nature !
July 6th, 2010 at 12:15 am
You know what? ‘God’ is a semantic nightmare. The word means different things to different people. What should really be debated is faith vs trust/skepticism/scientific method/realty.
Faith is the enemy of intelligence not a virtue (this is a lie) as it is legitimized even valued ignorance that the establishment use as a way of maintaining control.