What Albert Einstein said about Atheists

originally posted by: DeathSlayer

originally posted by: Akragon
a reply to: Elton

Heres a shocker...

Hes right... Jesus didn't ever claim to be God...

That came quite a bit after he died... and more so when the early church fathers got together and decided what they thought he was saying...

they were confused... just as the direct followers of Jesus were

You are wrong. It was not the early Fathers of the Church as you suggest. It was his apostles who said Jesus was God who came in the flesh.

And I am not giving any bible classes especially to atheist and non believers...... remember you don't want this pushed down you throat. You will have to read the bible yourself.

No im not wrong... Jesus did not once claim to be God... try reading the gospels instead of listening to your preachers

You can read into what he said like every other Christian if wish but the fact remains he didn't ever say it...

By the way im no atheist... and there isn't a damn thing you could teach me about the bible that I don't already know...

check yourself... you don't have a clue who you're talking to...

silly Christian...

'The field is the sole governing agency of the particle'. Albert Einstein.

This is a great quote to contemplate given the OP.

originally posted by: hutch622

“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”
― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Think about it .

Haha.

I used to wonder that if I ever figured it all out, I would die.

I would be hard pressed to care about einsteins opinion on anything. Or anyone's opinion on anything for that matter.

Poor me, someone else thinks my atheist life is empty. Ya, I can see what I don't have when I look at religious people, but I sure as hell wouldn't want it.

originally posted by: Eunuchorn
I would be hard pressed to care about einsteins opinion on anything. Or anyone's opinion on anything for that matter.

Poor me, someone else thinks my atheist life is empty. Ya, I can see what I don't have when I look at religious people, but I sure as hell wouldn't want it.

indifference is sometimes more cruel than hatred.

originally posted by: lonesomerimbaud
a reply to: Elton

Exactly, I have read that. It is most welcome. Like I SAID I do not share all Albert Einstein's views. The thread is just to inform people that Albert Einstein was NOT AN ATHEIST! In his own words he said that. So how can anyone argue with that?

Right. He was clearly agnostic.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t

originally posted by: lonesomerimbaud
a reply to: Elton

Exactly, I have read that. It is most welcome. Like I SAID I do not share all Albert Einstein's views. The thread is just to inform people that Albert Einstein was NOT AN ATHEIST! In his own words he said that. So how can anyone argue with that?

Right. He was clearly agnostic.

he is clearly quoted as saying he doesnt believe in a personal god.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

I think Walter Isaacson has been making up Einstein quotes. I watched a speech by him and he claims Einstein at some dinner party in Berlin came out and said he believed in God. Such claim isn't documented anywhere I could find. It is at the 2-minute mark. Too bad Isaacson doesn't back up his claims. There are many documented quotes from Einstein on the matter that completely contradict Isaacson claims.

It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously.

Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science," New York Times Magazine, 9 November 1930

I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves.

Albert Einstein, The World as I See I

Albert EinsteinI 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.

Albert Einstein, from Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press

a research scientist will hardly be inclined to believe that events could be influenced by a prayer, i.e. by a wish addressed to a Supernatural Being.

-- Albert Einstein, 1936, responding to a child who wrote and asked if scientists pray. Source: Albert Einstein: The Human Side, Edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffmann


It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly.

Albert Einstein, 1954, from Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press

a reply to: Grimpachi

Well whatever he was, he clearly wasn't Christian. Though, to be honest, why does a scientist even a famous one's religion even matter? Just because someone is smart doesn't mean they can't have dumb thoughts or beliefs.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

I agree, but obviously many people do feel it matters what he thought on the matter. It isn't something I would normally discuss, but I take issue whenI think someone like himself is being falsely portrayed against long-standing evidence.

A good question would be why is there such a push to rewrite historical figures positions on these matters.

originally posted by: Grimpachi
a reply to: Krazysh0t

I agree, but obviously many people do feel it matters what he thought on the matter. It isn't something I would normally discuss, but I take issue whenI think someone like himself is being falsely portrayed against long-standing evidence.

Good point. I think I'll just keep the agnostic label. I'm pretty sure that there were many people from our past that would have labeled themselves as such if such a label existed back then.

A good question would be why is there such a push to rewrite historical figures positions on these matters.

I think it is a move to discredit their opinion, saying that if they were believers why aren't YOU a believer since you believe their other ideas. But that is a logical fallacy, just because someone has one good idea, or even a majority of good ideas, doesn't mean they are all good ideas.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: Grimpachi

Well whatever he was, he clearly wasn't Christian. Though, to be honest, why does a scientist even a famous one's religion even matter? Just because someone is smart doesn't mean they can't have dumb thoughts or beliefs.

well, look at it this way. do you trust a doctor who dresses like a slob and never washes his hands?

a scientist who only applies science half the time is much the same way. you dont just "turn off" rational thinking, and even if you could, why would you? is it somehow more efficient to be dumber? or more rewarding?

originally posted by: TzarChasm
well, look at it this way. do you trust a doctor who dresses like a slob and never washes his hands?

a scientist who only applies science half the time is much the same way. you dont just "turn off" rational thinking, and even if you could, why would you? is it somehow more efficient to be dumber? or more rewarding?

Confirmation biases are hard to shake sometimes. As long as the scientists aren't presenting any religious dogma in their papers then it shouldn't matter what their personal opinions on spirituality are. After all, there is a lot of derision for the god of the gaps argument, but it's not like it can be DISPROVEN either. So until that is the case, spirituality and science can co-exist. How a scientist rationalizes such assumptions though is for him and him alone though.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Confirmation biases are hard to shake sometimes.

"hard" has never stopped us.

As long as the scientists aren't presenting any religious dogma in their papers then it shouldn't matter what their personal opinions on spirituality are. After all, there is a lot of derision for the god of the gaps argument, but it's not like it can be DISPROVEN either.

god of the gaps explains itself. literally a god born of ignorance.

So until that is the case, spirituality and science can co-exist.

spirituality exploits the very flaws that science has to eliminate to do its job.

a reply to: TzarChasm

Hey, I never said it was correct reasoning. I just said I can see why someone can hold those opinions and be a scientist while being technically correct about both. I happen to like Occam's Razor and the god of the gaps argument is just a big assumption.

a reply to: lonesomerimbaud



And my response is...

Being good at math apparently doesn't translate to other realms of intelligence.

Since the thread is about Einstein's words that he is not an atheist, I'll not respond to any of the all too common hate from the militant atheist crowd. Instead, consider that H.P. Lovecraft was a self proclaimed atheist, yet the starting text to one of his most recognized works seems to ring of some deep belief in something more than science has yet discovered. Or he could just have been immersing himself so deeply into character that it sounded so. Either way, I find the words haunting and somewhat relevant to this thread.

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." -H. P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

I do not see anything genius in this piece of ... I hint who ecx.images-amazon.com... thinks that is a god, they founded and led all religions sects and atheism too

Ahh But Atheism is a religion.

Per Oxford Dictionary:

- The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods: ideas about the relationship between science and religion
- A particular system of faith and worship
- A pursuit or interest followed with great devotion.

Religion is a belief system with followers, a core belief, a drive to further that belief and normally a physical sign of that system.


Atheist have all of these:
- defiantly a large number of followers.
- A core belief that there is no God.
- A very hard drive to remove all other belief systems (IE religions) from public use.
- the sign of the atom or @ is commonly know as their "cross"

So in all way that I see it they are just another religion trying to stomp out competitor.

And on that note they have the same right to practice their religion as any other.

Separation of church and state? never existed and never will. As long as man has a morality it will be shaped by beliefs.
The right to practice your own religion with out threat or exclusion from holding office in the US? The very idea of what is in the Constitution.