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Originally Posted by ShaniFaye
Its interesting to see some of the names you posted willravel, because at least two of them were believers in god, Galileo and Einstein.
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Okay, I'm starting to get tired of this claim. While Galileo was surely religious, Einstein was not, particularly. While he did say things like:
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Originally Posted by Albert Einstein
...science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind...
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...which would seem to imply that he's religious, he also said things like this:
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Originally Posted by Albert Einstein
Did God have a choice in creating the Universe?
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...which most pious people find blasphemous. He didn't stop there, either...
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Originally Posted by Albert Einstein
I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God Who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind. |
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Originally Posted by Albert Einstein
It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere...
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Originally Posted by Albert Einstein
I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation. I cannot do this in spite of the fact that mechanistic causality has, to a certain extent, been placed in doubt by modern science. My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of the highest importance -- but for us, not for God.
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These examples really pissed the church off, especially the last one. Now, I know you don't put much stock into organized religion, and I appreciate that, but it's an example of how unorthodox his beliefs were. He even denied divine (absolute) morality! He basically used God as a metaphor for the forces of nature and was of a religious temperment so mild that they don't even bother
Richard Dawkins.
Similarly, a lot of scientists that people on this baord have claimed to be religious really were not. None of this was particularly relevant to the various conversations in which they took part but I just dislike spreading misinformation...