Atheists: want to read an interesting story about Mr. Einstein?

Question

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1607298,00.html

Answer 1

Thanks, Midge! It seems most of the people who responded didn't get the point, were too lazy to read the full story, or too scared to really THINK about the meaning.

To me it says that Einstein, who had a better knowledge of the laws of the universe than most mortals, couldn't help but realise that there must be a higher intelligence behind it all. I loved this bit: "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. "

Exactly what he believed about God doesn't really concern me. Matthew 11:25 says: At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children."

Answer 2

Why do you address this to atheists? Maybe some of the fanatical fundies would be a better target. Of course, they probably don't know who Einstein was, since most of Einstein's theories are scientific.

Anyway, it was a good read. Too bad more people don't think this way - or think at all for that matter.

Answer 3

I read the article, and it seems that Mr. Einstein had some very interesting philosophical views on religion, and some very unfortunate ones about Atheists.

I wish I could speak to him on this point. It seems to me that the only difference between the way he thinks and the way I think is that he believes that some of the underlying aspects of the Universe are unknowable and I don't. Even as an Atheist I share his nigh mystical awe of the amazing world around me and I would very much like to share that with him, so that maybe he could change his sadly negative view of us. It truly saddens me that a man I respect so dearly felt that way about people like me.

Answer 4

Why would only Atheists be interested in reading a story about Einstein? He was a great thinker and made a lot of progress. Yes, I see the article talks about his religious experiences....so? I can respect a person and their work in life, regardless of their religious beliefs.

Answer 5

Do you have a point?

Were you under the impression that atheists had claimed Einstein as a fellow atheist?

Most of us are quite aware of his beliefs, and those are that he did not believe in a personal God that is concerned with the fates and actions of individuals.

Answer 6

"Through the reading of popular scientific books, I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true. The consequence was a positively fanatic orgy of free thinking coupled with the impression that youth is intentionally being deceived by the state through lies; it was a crushing impression."Einstein


"The main source of the present-day conflicts between the spheres of religion and of science lies in this concept of a personal God,"

So he didn't like hard core Atheists and organized religion. What is your point?

Answer 7

He was neither christian, nor atheist.

"Through the reading of popular scientific books, I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true. The consequence was a positively fanatic orgy of free thinking coupled with the impression that youth is intentionally being deceived by the state through lies; it was a crushing impression."

interesting to read that he didnt believe in free will:

Is this a Jewish concept of God? "I am a determinist. I do not believe in free will. Jews believe in free will. They believe that man shapes his own life. I reject that doctrine. In that respect I am not a Jew."

nor did he believe in afterlife:

Do you believe in immortality? "No. And one life is enough for me."

"The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I am a devoutly religious man."

"I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals himself in the lawful harmony of all that exists, but not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind."

science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

"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 force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in fact, religious."

Do you believe in God? "I'm not an atheist. I don't think I can call myself a pantheist. 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 it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws."

thanks for the link

Answer 8

I took this from the page you just posted:
Einstein would later come close to these sentiments. But at the time, his leap away from faith was a radical one. "Through the reading of popular scientific books, I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true. The consequence was a positively fanatic orgy of free thinking coupled with the impression that youth is intentionally being deceived by the state through lies; it was a crushing impression."



Hmmmmmm......

Answer 9

I was already aware of the fact that Einstein believed in Spinoza's God, rather than the idea of a Judeo Christian God.

He was always very clear about the fact that he was not Christian and did not believe in a personal God.

So what's your point? Do you understand what the difference is, or did you think you "got us" with that one?

Answer 10

I don't think anyone ever tried to say that Einstein was an atheist. But he didn't believe in a personal god and he didn't believe in an afterlife either. So I'm not really sure what you're trying to say here.