Einstein's
Atheism
I think part of the problem of theists wanting to believe that famous
scientists such as Einstein
and Hawking
believe in their god comes from the common quote: "God does not play dice
with the Universe." To those who already wish that Einstein
believed in god, Einstein's mere mention of "god" here is all the
"assurancance" they need. But to truly understand what he meant when
he said that, one has to dig further into Einstein's views toward god and
religion. Scientists often informally use "god" to mean the laws of
nature.
In a (non-religious) discussion w/ another xian, I brought up this quote:
"Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over
which we have no control. It is determined for the insect as well as for the
star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious
tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper." Einstein:
The Life and Times, Ronald W. Clark, Page 422.
The person's immediate reaction was to say, "yeah, but WHO is the
piper???" (Sigh) I don't think these kinds of people are really interested
in the true meaning of these quotes, only what parts of them they can use to
bolster their cause.
Here are some quotes I found relating to Einstein's views on god &
religion:
"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." Upon being asked if he believed in God by Rabbi Herbert
Goldstein of the Institutional Synagogue, New York, April 24, 1921, Einstein:
The Life and Times, Ronald W. Clark, Page 502.
"an attempt to find an out where there is no door." Einstein's
description of religious thought, Einstein: The Life and Times, Ronald W.
Clark, Page 516.
"Our situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us
appears here involuntary and uninvited for a short stay, without knowing the
whys and the wherefore. In our daily lives we only feel that man is here for the
sake of others, for those whom we love and for many other beings whose fate is
connected with our own." ... "The most beautiful and deepest
experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. It is the underlying
principle of religion as well as all serious endeavour in art and science. He
who never had this experience seems to me, if not dead, then at least blind. To
sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is a something that our
mind cannot grasp and whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly and
as a feeble reflection, this is religiousness. In this sense I am religious. To
me it suffices to wonder at these secrets and to attempt humbly to grasp with my
mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all that there is." Einstein's
speech 'My Credo' to the German League of Human Rights, Berlin, autumn 1932, Einstein:
A Life in Science, Michael White and John
Gribbin, Page 262.
And here's one that seems to speak from the grave:
"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." - Albert
Einstein in Albert
Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas (Einstein's secretary)
and Banesh Hoffman, and published by Princeton University Press.
Sorry for the rant; Einstein's sort of one of my historical heroes. :)
P.S. - ok, one more - sort of humorous (from the religious standpoint, at
least):
"Coughlin [of the Los Angeles tabloid Illustrated Daily News, in
hot pursuit of asking Einstein a provocative, headline-inducing question] found
the right moment while tailing the car that was speeding the couple [the
Einsteins] north on the coast road to Pasadena. It had stopped to let Einstein
stroll over to a small headland known as Sunset Cliffs, where he stood gazing at
the sea and sky. Seizing the moment, Coughlin leaped from his car, the question
on his lips, followed by Spang, his camera at the ready. "Doctor",
Coughlin said, "is there a God?" Einstein stared at the water's edge
some twenty feet below, then turned to his questioner. Coughlin later wrote:
"There were tears in his eyes, and he was sniffing. Spang shot the picture
as Einstein was hustled away before he could answer me. "Well," I
said, "the way he reacted, he believes in God. Did you ever see such an
emotional face?" Spang was standing on the edge of the headland, where the
great scientist had stood. He looked down, then called me: "Come over
here." I looked down and there, caught against the base of the little
cliff, was a shark that must have been dead in the hot sun for several days.
"Make anybody cry", Spang said." Einstein:
A Life, Denis Brian, Page 206.
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