Belief in God 'childish,' Jews not chosen people: Einstein letter

[Godgiven]

Tue May 13, 9:02 AM ET(Published the day before Israel marks its 60th year as a nation, May 14, 1948)LONDON (AFP) - Albert Einstein described belief in God as "childish superstition" and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London this week, an auctioneer said Tuesday.The father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the comments in response to a philosopher in 1954.As a Jew himself, Einstein said he had a great affinity with Jewish people but said they "have no different quality for me than all other people"."The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish."No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this," he wrote in the letter written on January 3, 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, cited by The Guardian newspaper.The German-language letter is being sold Thursday by Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, said the auction house's managing director Rupert Powell.In it, the renowned scientist, who declined an invitation to become Israel's second president, rejected the idea that the Jews are God's chosen people."For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions," he said."And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people."And he added: "As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."Previously the great scientist's comments on religion -- such as "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind" -- have been the subject of much debate, used notably to back up arguments in favour of faith.Powell said the letter being sold this week gave a clear reflection of Einstein's real thoughts on the subject. "He's fairly unequivocal as to what he's saying. There's no beating about the bush," he told AFP.

 

[RaddSpencer]

Not all scientists agreed with him:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_l_jw3Dc7A

 

[Mighty Bear]

Einstein also was a known comedian, asked what it is that is most difficult for him to comprehend, his answer was "Income Tax". In the OT we also have 10% income tax. I mean, look, his hair is ridiculous.

 

[tim_from_pa]

LONDON (AFP) - Albert Einstein described belief in God as "childish superstition" and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London this week, an auctioneer said Tuesday.
Which goes to show that people find evidence to support what they are predisposed to believing to begin with. No, I'm not talking about Einstein here; I'm talking about atheists reporting this evidence to show that a brilliant scientist like Einstein did not believe in God, and therefore why should we? (There's probably MORE to the story). Fact is, a theist could just as easy quote Einstein with his famous saying, "God does not play dice with the universe" to prove otherwise. The truth is that Einstein was well read as a boy in both Judaic and Christian Scriptures. He was very spiritual, too. However, at age 12 I believe but don't quote me on the age, he left that ideology toward a God that most Christians would consider impersonal. Much like Stephen Hawkings, His God may be one of Universal Law. But I am not aware that Einstein blatantly denied the existence of God. As a matter of fact, He thought very highly of Jesus Christ: someone that most atheists thumb their noses at.As for the Jewish people not being God's chosen people, I cannot comment from his vantage point on his position, but as a BI-type person, My belief about the Jews is that they are God's chosen, but with only the right to rule and the inheritance in the land with the other Israelites. The rest of the promises, namely the birthright ones involving national greatness and all the other great things promised to Abraham did not go to them according to the bible, but to the tribe of Joseph, which is not technically Jewish.

 

[waquinas]

If you do a google on Einstein and God you will find a lot of conflicting info. While he may not have been orthodox or evangelical, he was not an atheist. The man clearly believed in a Creator, a superior intelligence behind the universe.Some examples:Albert Einstein“In essence, my religion consists of a humble admiration for this illimitable superior spirit that reveals itself in the slight details that we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds .”“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.”“Although I am a typical loner in daily life, my consciousness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice has preserved me from feeling isolated. 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 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 is there.”“I have tried to respond to your question as simply as I could. Here is my answer. Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the actions of people. For this reason, a research scientist will hardly be inclined to believe that events could be influenced by prayer, i.e. by a wish addressed to a supernatural Being. However, it must be admitted that our actual knowledge of these laws is only imperfect and fragmentary, so that, actually the belief in the existence of basic all-embracing laws in nature also rests on a sort of faith. All the same this faith has been largely justified so far by the success of scientific research. But, on the other hand, everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe-a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is indeed quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive.”“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.”“By way of the understanding he [the scientist] achieves a far-reaching emancipation from the shackles of personal hopes and desires, and thereby attains that humble attitude of mind towards the grandeur of reason incarnate in existence, and which, in its profoundest depths, is inaccessible to man. This attitude, however, appears to me to be religious, in the highest sense of the word. And so it seems to me that science not only purifies the religious impulse of the dross of its anthropomorphism but also contributes to a religious spiritualization of our understanding of life.”“Science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration toward truth and understanding. This source of feeling, however, springs from the sphere of religion. To this there also belongs the faith in the possibility that the regulations valid for the world of existence are rational, that is, comprehensible to reason. I cannot conceive of a genuine scientist without that profound faith. The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”

 

[Learning]

This is one person's belief. It is because of his famous name and the fact that this letter is going to be auctioned off, that it has made the news. If the Bible says the Jewish are His chosen people then it is so.