Did Einstein believe in God?

Question

NO.

A lot of you say he did. Why do you say lies about such a genius man? Are you getting that he was a believer because of this he once said?:

"Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind."

That's taken out of context. Know what he said AFTER that?:

"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."

In fact, he finds the Christian god a disgusting character, "I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own."

Here's another quote, "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

And one last quote:

"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."

Actually, just one more quote. An important one:

"If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed."

Answer 1

He belived in a higher power.

Not in the classical biblical God

"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior Spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. The deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning Power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God."


"I can't answer with a simple yes or no. I'm not an atheist and I don't think I can call myself a pantheist. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many different languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see a universe marvellously arranged and obeying certain laws, but only dimly understand these laws. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that moves the constellations. I am fascinated by Spinoza's pantheism, but admire even more his contributions to modern thought because he is the first philosopher to deal with the soul and the body as one, not two separate things."

Answer 2

He certainly didn't believe in the one promoted by most religions. He used metaphors such as 'God doesn't play dice' (when speaking about his problem with quantum physics). 'God', in this case, is used as a metaphor for the universe and the way it functions. He did say that, if anything, he would be more in line with the concept of God espoused by Spinoza. But all of this is moot. Belief and intelligence are both part of the ego/psychological self which can never penetrate something that is non-dualistic (something that can be experienced only when the psychological self is no longer manufactured by our minds). Einstein had an ego and so do all of us. He never went for the direct experience that many have gone for and, therefore, his belief or non-belief is not an issue. In fact, all belief and non-belief mean nothing -- they're all in the perceptual realm and are just bullsh!t.

Answer 3

Einstein did, infact, have faith in God. His learn replaced into surely constrained via that perception... "God would not play cube with the Universe" may be the biggest data of this...

Answer 4

He said "I do not believe in a personal God".... He also said when once confronted with the randomness of certain parts of physics "God does not play dice".

I think that Einstein was more of a Deist, believing in a God, but, as he said, not a personal one.

Obviously, he wasn't a Christian or a Jew. There are lots of people who believe in Gods but aren't Christians.

Einstein wasn't an atheist.

Answer 5

Einstein believed in a concept known as Spinoza's God, basically an atheistic concept that finds revelation simply in the magnitude and awe of the natural universe, not in a deity.

Answer 6

He believed in God as a grand machination - the proverbial gears that govern the universe. He did not feel God was some old guy with a beard that somebody could pray to.

Answer 7

Einstein believed in a form of supreme power ruling the universe. He did not believe in the Christian God, or one that was involved in the lives of humans. It was more of a persona-less overlord power.

Answer 8

He did not believe in a personal God.

Few rational people do.

You missed a good quote.

When confronted with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, He said that, "God does not play dice".

Love and blessings Don

Answer 9

Interesting quotes. Were they chosen based on puposes of your own? Just curious.

I heard that Einstein was born Jewish. And, he, like many Jewish geniuses, had great respect for his culture. I also hear, however, that he found Buddhism to be a religion that was very scientific, in deed.

I giggle to say, "These historic truths suit my puposes very well."

Answer 10

He didn't believe in the God of the bible, but he did believe in the existance of God, based on many of his calculations. He proved the universe was decelerating, therefore , had a beginning and a creator.