Belief in God 'Childish,' Jews Not Chosen People: Einstein Letter

AFP:

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".

Read the whole story: AFP

Comments

[michelv]

Given this comment, is Hebrew University going to give up its Einstein trademark royalties?

[vandegrasse]

Religion is what you make of it. It can help and it can hurt.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tbpyQkfIg7o

[RJC]

But that doesn't make it true, or ground it in reality

[wondering]

True. Replace the word "religion" in vandegrasse's comment with "a hammer" and the sentence makes just as much sense:

A hammer is what you make of it. It can help and it can hurt.

[hydrogeoman]

Anyone you understands Einstein's genius should not find his opinion of religion as strange or inappropriate. He consistently sought the simplest answer to the most complex problems. Neither his answers nor his life required the complexity of religion to work.

[JonasH]

A large part of the western-world has an obsession, conscious or not, with jews. Slowly but surely intelligent discource could grind down this obsession to more manageable proportions. Or not.

Personally I believe Einstein was a smart man, and I must say his view on religion as indicated by the letter boosts my regard of him.

[hydrogeoman]

Religion..­.

The great American wasteland.

[RGKahn]

Thomas Jefferson wrote that he did not care if his neighbor thought there were 20 gods or no god. It neither broke his leg nor picked his pocket. I am not sure if that is the exact quote or not, but it is the essence of what he wrote in a letter after being President of the United states. I agree with Thomas Jefferson and Einstein's view of theism. You do not have to have a god to be moral.

[HeevenSteven]

"whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent"

Oh please, only someone who has never actually read him could say that.

[FeloniouslyAnnoying]

You are right, This is called poor journalism. ANYONE, who knows ANYTHING about Einstein has known for a long time exactly what he thought of "god".

Just for the record.
Using "God" was always a tool for him, short hand, for the laws of physics which drive the universe.

[fighouse]

wow. i suddenly don't believe in g-d anymore.

PSYCH!

[FeloniouslyAnnoying]

Why do you believe in God?

[MikeDu]

I tend to not believe much of anything that requires the word 'in' in the middle of the sentence. The word 'in' in the phrase "believe in God" implies up front that this magical entity exists by common consent and its only my belief that is in question.

[theidaexpress]

wow. I couldn't feel more bad for you.

[randyleepublic]

Now I get it! The reason that we endlessly suffer the deprecations of mind-eating fear porn, (religion), and its followers is that most of us are really stupid, at least compared to Mr. Einstein.

So what do we do about it? How do we get the dummies to wake up, smell the coffee, and put their bibles and korans in the dumpster where they belong? Suggestion: let's all go to the genetically enhanced baby shop when we want to have kids. The new generation will be smart enough to drop the nonsense.

Problem solved. Yeah!

[RJC]

When I saw the headline of another story " Mentally Ill start mad pride movement", before reading the article, I thought; " Wait a minute, we already have a group like that, the Evangelicals". I wanted to post over there but found nothing but serious dialogue, so I just couldn't

[avicenna]

There is an old Arab proverb: "Believe in God, but tie up your camel". Coming from the sciences, I can say there is a notable difference between physicists and life scientists in regards to their religious perspectives. Where most biologists have been trained to scoff at any dogma that threatens Darwinism and the theory of evolution, physicists are esoteric at their core - largely because they believe in concepts that deal with extreme intangibles - and far more mysterious by nature. It is because of this ability to think in realms beyond the tangible, many physcists reject traditional (or exoteric) religious practices (as they come across as rather base and inconsistant in their practice and rationale) and are more inclined to adopt unifying concepts of existance like the Perennial Philosophy.
Having said that, I think the real root of human weakness is not a belief in God, but our uncanny ability to turn the theory of evolution and goodness of fit on its head by using virtually all knowledge we aquire to destroy ourselves.

[RJC]

What bothers me is how little MSM coverage this got. This was featured on Yahoo for about 30 min, then it was gone. Much less time than your average item stays on the main page. The keepers of the faith are busy little beavers

[Ajita]

How true. Fear not my friend, MSM will die and the internet will reign supreme- Praise be to FSM.

[RJC]

My concern is our corporate congress is taking steps to regulate the internet, further controlling the information us sheep are privy to.

[theidaexpress]

Just because someone is an atheist doesn't mean they are an antisemitic. Really people, get a grip!
Don't you think it is slightly big headed for someone to say they are "chosen"--it is the same when Christians blabber on about how "blessed" they are. None of it makes any sense to me--when did humans become so moronic?
http://www.theidaexpress.com

[bobo209]

Who knewwwwwww­...Einstei­n was an anti semite>>oyyyee veyyy..let me call the AIPAC..

[cognate]

Einstein has been proven wrong about a lot of things, including relativity.

Not.

Not.

[wondering]

Well, well, well ...

Can we now expect the True Believers on Huffpo, who love to cite Einstein quotes in defense of their madness, to leave poor Al out of it?

[RJC]

I second that. Good post.

[MikeDu]

"...to leave poor AI out of it." What's an A.I.? Artificial intelligence? You seem to be leaving intelligence of any sort entirely out of your posts.