Scott Allan's World

Contrary to popular belief, Albert Einstein was not a religious man. He once reportedly made the statement,

“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind”

This quote has been used to support the arguments of religious groups that God created the universe and to promote the theory of “intelligent design”. This was a very powerful argument considering that Einstein might be considered the greatest mind that ever lived.

However, it turns out that Einstein believed this is a bunch of baloney. In personal letters, Einstein refuted the existence of God. It was inconsistent and contradictory to believe that Einstein would accept faith as an explanation of the universe since he dedicated his life to proving that there is a scientific explanation or unified theory for how the universe worked. He deeply believed in this theory even though he died before being able to prove it. What was once a powerful endorsement will now be summarily dismissed and discredited by the same groups that previously embraced him.

There are many, many quotes to prove this at StephenJayGould.org. This is just one of them:

“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. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.”

Albert Einstein, in a letter March 24, 1954; from Albert Einstein the Human Side, Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, eds., Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1981, p. 43.

Einstein who was born a Jew also did not find the Jewish people to be the “chosen people” even though he had great affection for them.

From a letter sold at auction this week:

“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

“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.”

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.”

For better or for worse, I think it is undeniably clear now what Einstein believed.