Belief in God 'childish'

[TheWrathOfGrapes]

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.

[Lili Von Shtupp]

Well, if there is a God, then he'd have discovered that by now, I suppose, what with being dead and all. Then again, if there is no God, then given Al's current circumstances, it probably wouldn't matter much to him anyway. Can I say "It's all relative" ? 

[T2K]

The end of "There Will Be Blood" summed it up nicely too, but I guess Einstein has more credibility!

[Addadude]

Einstein was probably the first great 'soundbite' man. He loved to blurt out eminently quotable quotes. And of course any time he referred to God, he'd be guaranteed that it would be printed and reprinted. God was one of his ways of getting attention.

[pjtavar]

So many say there is no God but at the moment we are to pass from this world HOW MANY CHANGE THERE MIND.

[Old Mike]

The important thing is, not if you recognise God, but if He recognises you.

[krazy]

Stephen Hawking has similar views to Einstein.

pjtavar - between mynamar and china about 250k have just been 'sent to heaven' Do they all get in or only those who believed in God as their roof collapsed on their head?

[Old Mike]

About 59 million people die each year.
The important question is, what happens to them?

[krazy]

I don't think that is really the important question at all - I think more important questions are 1) how were they treated while they were alive and 2) how well did they treat others while they were alive.

[SA expat]

About 59 million people die each year.
The important question is, what happens to them?

I guess heaven and hell must be pretty crowded then.   

[Old Mike]

Dr. Schambaugh, of the University of Oklahoma School of Chemical Engineering, Final Exam question for May of 1997. Dr. Schambaugh is known for asking questions such as, "why do airplanes fly?" on his final exams. His one and only final exam question in May 1997 for his Momentum, Heat and Mass Transfer II class was: "Is hell exothermic or endothermic? Support your answer with proof."

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

"First, We postulate that if souls exist, then they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls can also have a mass. So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls leaving? I think we can safely assume that once a soul gets to hell, it will not leave.

Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for souls entering hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, then you will go to hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and souls go to hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change in volume in hell. Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of souls and volume needs to stay constant. Two options exist:

1)If hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter hell, then the temperature and pressure in hell will increase until all hell breaks loose.

2)If hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until hell freezes over.

So which is it? If we accept the quote given to me by Theresa Manyan during Freshman year, "that it will be a cold night in hell before I sleep with you" and take into account the fact that I still have NOT succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then Option 2 cannot be true...Thus, hell is exothermic."

The student, Tim Graham, got the only A.

[TheWrathOfGrapes]

About 59 million people die each year.
The important question is, what happens to them?

I guess heaven and hell must be pretty crowded then.   

Not if all of them turned into fertilizers.
This is as it should be - go green - reuse, replace and recycle...
 

[so what]

Einstein was also 100% convinced that light moved from point A to B in waves. He was wrong there as well.

[Old Mike]

Einstein was also 100% convinced that light moved from point A to B in waves. He was wrong there as well

No he was not. In fact he was the first person to demonstrate the particle nature of light.
You must be thinking of Huygens.

Morning Edition, March 17, 2005 · One hundred years ago today, Albert Einstein finished a scientific paper that would change the world. His radical insight into the nature of light would help transform Einstein from an unknown patent clerk to the genius at the center of 20th-century physics.

Scientists call 1905 Albert Einstein's annus mirabilis -- his year of miracles. Within a few months, Einstein wrote a series of papers that would transform the way we see the universe. They included his theory of special relativity and the famous equation E=mc².

The first paper described his particle theory of light, which became one of the foundations of modern physics. Just as popular legend has it, Einstein really was a patent office clerk when he conceived his radical theories -- but he was also a doctoral candidate who spent his free time debating cutting-edge physics with his friends.

[so what]

Rectification: It was indeed Einstein who was 100% convinced that light travels as particles.
Either way...he was wrong, as Bohr proved.