http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/may/12/peopleinscience.religion
Childish superstition: Einstein's letter makes view of religion
relatively clear
Scientist's reply to sell for up to £8,000, and stoke debate over his
beliefs
* James Randerson, science correspondent
* The Guardian,
* Monday May 12 2008
* Article history
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This article appeared in the Guardian on Monday May 12 2008 . It was
last updated at 00:06 on May 13 2008.
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
So said Albert Einstein, and his famous aphorism has been the source
of endless debate between believers and non-believers wanting to claim
the greatest scientist of the 20th century as their own.
A little known letter written by him, however, may help to settle the
argument - or at least provoke further controversy about his views.
Due to be auctioned this week in London after being in a private
collection for more than 50 years, the document leaves no doubt that
the theoretical physicist was no sup****ter of religious beliefs, which
he regarded as "childish superstitions".
Einstein penned the letter on January 3 1954 to the philosopher Eric
Gutkind who had sent him a copy of his book Choose Life: The Biblical
Call to Revolt. The letter went on public sale a year later and has
remained in private hands ever since.
In the letter, he states: "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."
Einstein, who was Jewish and who declined an offer to be the state of
Israel's second president, also rejected the idea that the Jews are
God's favoured people.
"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the
most childish superstitions. 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. 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."
The letter will go on sale at Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair on
Thursday and is expected to fetch up to £8,000. The handwritten piece,
in German, is not listed in the source material of the most
authoritative academic text on the subject, Max Jammer's book Einstein
and Religion.
One of the country's leading experts on the scientist, John Brooke of
Oxford University, admitted he had not heard of it.
Einstein is best known for his theories of relativity and for the
famous E=mc2 equation that describes the equivalence of mass and
energy, but his thoughts on religion have long attracted conjecture.
His parents were not religious but he attended a Catholic primary
school and at the same time received private tuition in Judaism. This
prompted what he later called, his "religious paradise of youth",
during which he observed religious rules such as not eating ****k. This
did not last long though and by 12 he was questioning the truth of
many biblical stories.
"The consequence was a positively fanatic [orgy of] freethinking
coupled with the impression that youth is being deceived by the state
through lies; it was a cru****ng impression," he later wrote.
In his later years he referred to a "cosmic religious feeling" that
permeated and sustained his scientific work. In 1954, a year before
his death, he spoke of wi****ng to "experience the universe as a single
cosmic whole". He was also fond of using religious flourishes, in 1926
declaring that "He [God] does not throw dice" when referring to
randomness thrown up by quantum theory.
His position on God has been widely misrepresented by people on both
sides of the atheism/religion divide but he always resisted easy
stereotyping on the subject.
"Like other great scientists he does not fit the boxes in which
popular polemicists like to pigeonhole him," said Brooke. "It is clear
for example that he had respect for the religious values enshrined
within Judaic and Christian traditions ... but what he understood by
religion was something far more subtle than what is usually meant by
the word in popular discussion."
Despite his categorical rejection of conventional religion, Brooke
said that Einstein became angry when his views were appropriated by
evangelists for atheism. He was offended by their lack of humility and
once wrote. "The eternal mystery of the world is its
comprehensibility."
"I want justice...There's an old poster out West, as I recall, that
said, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive,'"
- G.W. Bush, 9/17/01, UPI
"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care.
It's not that im****tant. It's not our priority."
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02
Pay your taxes so the rich don't have to.
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