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Old 01-01-2008, 02:28 PM   #42 (permalink)
Baraka_Guru
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Being the genius that he was, it is difficult to pigeonhole Einstein's mind into one classification. He thought a lot about God, religion, and science and how they all interacted in the universe. Whether he believed in a figure that we could call God is irrelevant. He was keen on viewing the universe and how it worked. To say Einstein was non-religious would be false. To say he believed in a personal god would also be false. He criticized indoctrination of the church, but saw the value of pursing the "laws of God." He criticized both religious institutions and atheists:
About God, I cannot accept any concept based on the authority of the Church. As long as I can remember, I have resented mass indocrination. I do not believe in the fear of life, in the fear of death, in blind faith. I cannot prove to you that there is no personal God, but if I were to speak of him, I would be a liar. I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil. My God created laws that take care of that. His universe is not ruled by wishful thinking, but by immutable laws.

—W. Hermanns, Einstein and the Poet—In Search of the Cosmic Man (Branden Press, Brookline Village, Mass., 1983), p.132, quoted in Jammer, p.123.
I was barked at by numerous dogs who are earning their food guarding ignorance and superstition for the benefit of those who profit from it. Then there are the fanatical atheists whose intolerance is of the same kind as the intolerance of the religious fanatics and comes from the same source. They 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 the traditional "opium of the people"—cannot bear the music of the spheres. The Wonder of nature does not become smaller because one cannot measure it by the standards of human moral and human aims.

— Einstein to an unidentified adressee, Aug.7, 1941. Einstein Archive, reel 54-927, quoted in Jammer, p. 97
How does this apply to this thread? Well, this thread is about theism. I suppose it depends on how you apply it. Is it the theism of church dogma, or is it the theism of religious truth as applied to the pursuit of scientific truth?
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