Are atheists like slaves?

Question

As Einstein said, "the fanatical atheists are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after 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."

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

The difference between Einstein and atheists is humility.

okay, obviously I was trying to provoke with this question. Sorry. Just hope people who claim atheism and wear logic on their sleeves weigh the cost.

Answer 1

Perhaps they are liberators: trying to free their fellow humans from the bondage of ignorance.

Answer 2

I never felt like a slave, because I have never been anything but an agnostic (early in life) and then an atheist (since just before I became a teenager). Therefore, I have never had chains to throw off my shoulders. Einstein, by the way, didn't have everything right. There's another great quote by Einstein which is about the "greastest lie" ever told about him. He said he never believed in a personal god, meaning he did not believe in either the Jewish or the Christian god. I always found that amusing, since many people wrongly think he did believe in such a god. Also, your own choice for quoting gives away something; like many religious people, most atheists are not "fanatical".

Answer 3

a) Einstein was an atheist, and no matter how many times you shout that he was a Christian it will never be so.

b) I've never heard this quote, but it's obvious by reading the ENTIRE sentence that he's not saying that atheists are like slaves. He says they are "slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle."

The chains represent God. We were unfairly oppressed for an eternity and given no choice in the matter, until finally after a long struggle we were able to break free from the prison of mental conformity and see the world as it really is. Now we're still crushed to see our fellow man still in the bonds of religious slavery.

Answer 4

FANATICAL, i.e., gnostic atheists perhaps. They won't became theists even IF there were evidence of a god or gods.

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." Is just the first part.

He also said: "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."

Answer 5

Einstein was not speaking of any particular religion or god. Besides, how are atheists ant more slaves than Christians who have been given 10 Commandments that they largely don't follow anyway?

"Science has evidence without any proof. Creationists have proof without any evidence." Ashley Montague

Answer 6

To say that God does not exists, takes as much faith as saying God does exist. Atheists fall into a logic trap, one that they set up! They say - You cannot PROVE God exists - therefore he does not, which is a logical fallacy, because they likewise cannot DISPROVE God's existence.

They assert that the faithful are blind idiots, and in truth, they are guilty of hypocrisy! That is why the true scientific person would say - I do not know if God exists, I can neither prove or disprove His existence.

So yes - they are a slave - but mostly to their own ignorance regarding the absurdity of their position.

Answer 7

He was talking about being close minded. He would say the same about the Christian fundamentalists. He characterized the term “atheist” and “agnostic” differently then some other people do. Everyone has their own definition interestingly enough.

To not need god, but to be open to the idea, that's freedom. I'm an atheist.

Answer 8

no. you are reading it all wrong. he says atheists WHERE slaves who just threw off the chains of religion. He is chiding these people for becoming too militant and intolerant of religious people who remain content cows. Einstein is preaching religious tolerance

Answer 9

Verily I sayeth unto thee, thou soundeth like a person without a brain. May the great Einstein blesseth thy ah-soul.

Answer 10

That's funny, because when I shed the dogma I felt freed, and that was 30 years ago. Einstein was one the towering intellects in human history, but that doesn't mean he was always right.

Answer 11

I wouldn't say they are slaves. they just think different than some other people. but slaves no not hardly and Einstein was using this as a metaphor