Einstein Letter: Belief In God "Childish," Jews Not Chosen People

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.

Comments

[lilith13]

Is it really so hard to believe that one of the greatest minds ever sees no difference between people and whatever is or is not their religion? Unfortunately the religious right gets all the press and stories like this are left to the left. One can be whatever they chose to be. That doesn't mean that it is to be pushed down our throats on a daily basis when we don't agree. Religions are just good stories. That's what they are,
simply interesting stories. Most are like Fairy Tales and Nightmares, but who doesn't enjoy one of those?
It's when people start using words of supernatural things to attempt to make a point is when it really gets crazy. No one knows what is and what is not. One can feel, or chose to hope or believe, but no one knows
anything when it comes to the supernatural. I like reading about all the virgin births, all the christ figures
before that particular christ was even thought of. They make for a great read. But so many stories with the same outcome. Well, that's just plagiarism pure and simple. Thank the stars for the true stories, thank the moon and the sun, that's S U N, as in worship the sun, turned into something else by some smart power players. Einstein, you rock!

[marleysghost]

In the present, among our so called Christians, religion is simply Jesus worship. I see no theology, no search for the ineffable or inner spirit. But it comforts people and gives them mud to sling at those of us who recoil from mindless acceptance of somebody else's words in a 2500 year old book.

The last time I looked, the New Testament, the one that identifies the attributes of a "Christian" is a very short one, much of which is hearsay. Nonetheless, the true Christian practices what Jesus said, but does not need to worship Jesus, since he, himself, told his disciples to pray to "The Father." I think Jesus would be appalled at the mockery modern Christianity has made of him.

Christianity is a practice. It is something you do, not blab about or condemn others for not being apart of. Today's Christians do not impress me as being very Christian; rather the opposite: venal, petty, and self congratulatory. The mortgages on some of these churches would feed a multitude. Nice going for following a man who said "Sell everything you have and follow me."

As Marx said, it is opium for most people because they cannot think for themselves.

[oldwiseone]

If one were to research the subject, as well the various religions, it becomes clear that a serious error is made when the word "God" is taken at face value. A word by design isolates and separates this from that. So by using the word "God" by design separates God from everything resulting in the illusion that there is a God there and we are here. Ironic because the very first commandment says "Do not take my name in vain." I often wondered about that as a kid, thinking about how often we say god damn it, but nothing happens to the speaker. The point to be grasped is that God is not the name. Nor is the name God. I think that is what Einstein was trying to point out. Why not believe that there is a Santa Claus? Same thing, different name, eh?

[LeoMarvin]

I don't think Einstein had nondual advaita in mind.

[mach]

Ask Obama

[RJC]

I''l see your BenStein, and raise you an EinStein.

[toddx]

Belief is a position that rejects opposition to an antithetical viewpoint outright for a conclusion has been arrived at without exception. Belief is the end of thought. It is the end of reason.

Only someone that is intellectually arrogant and ignorant of the limits of attainable knowledge would claim conclusively the existence or nonexistence of God based on a simple belief. There is no way to prove or even offer support one way or the other such an existence.

Einstein, according to the article, states that religion is a childish superstition, it does not say anything about belief. His view on religion does not reveal a view on the possibility of God in this regard. However, his view that science without such a possibility was 'lame,' suggests that he likely had not ended thought on the matter.

Which makes sense, since Einstein claimed to be an agnostic. He never ended thought on a subject no matter how childish.

[RJC]

The non existence of gods ( or anything) is not a belief, it also does not have to be proven. The burden of proof is on anyone making a positive claim, ie belief in gods, easterbunny, toothfairy etc.
His " Lame" comment was made much earlier. By the time this paper was written, he had come to a conclusion.

[toddx]

Placing the onus only upon the positive claim is cop out, not to mention lazy. It ends thought. It ends discussion in a more insidious manner than any arguments for the existence of God ever has. You claim intellectual superiority to the believer based on their inability to prove or even provide a modicum of support to their conviction. Yet you merely have to state that you do not believe. Try that with something other than a fairy tale figure.

Einstein never came to a conclusion that ended his quest for knowledge on any subject. He professed himself an agnostic.

[GrainOSand]

Tao gives birth to one.
One gives birth to two.
Two gives birth to three.
Three gives birth to ten thousand things.

Ten thousand things find harmony
by combining forces of
positive and negative.

A violent man shall die a violent death.
This will be the essence of the teaching.

--Kung Fu Meditations & Chinese Proverbial Wisdom by Ellen Kei Hua

[JonathanDS2U]

I don't buy the idea that the older a person is, and the more definitively one states something, therefore the more representative the statement is of one's true self. Back when Einstein was working on his theory of relativity and Carl Jung was working on his theory of synchronicity, the two knew each other, dined together, were friends. Einstein's earlier statements regarding religion veer closer to Jung's thinking, at least from what I know of it. Jung saw religious stories as possessing a legitimate relationship to the human psyche, that there is a collective unconscious that people are born with, as we are born with hands. Was Einstein truly oblivious to the idea that there is something that exists in the realm between organized religion's dogma and childish superstition?

[Chandidevi]

"A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty - it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man." (Albert Einstein)

This belief is the same belief of Eastern religions. There is a personal and impersonal aspects of God, the impersonal being thought of as the highest manifestation of the experience God.

[Tyrione]

From Within as the Sahasrara is illuminated from the base of the Spine to the Top of the Skull via the Kundahlini Twin Lights of Fire and Ice. Or in modern terms, when the Central Nervous Systems is fused and lit up.

Even then they are temporary states of heightend awareness in how the Individual Point (You) relate to the Infinite Circumference (The Universe).

[dartagnan]

I hope this will lay to rest the persistent claims that Einstein was a theist, but that hope probably is in vain -- the believers have an almost infinite capacity for self-delusion.

[Tyrione]

He was an Agnostic whose innate Skepticism applied Scientific Illuminism to his Theories, yet recognized it was childish to explain Experience beyond his Mind or Conscience to be the residence of archaic stories and the home of YHWH. Instead of ignoring thousands of years of Eastern Mysticism he realized that this same Mysticism is quite akin to Modern Science and specifically Modern Physics of both Quantum and Relativity.

[ipu4me]

Sorry, one cannot be an Agnostic as it relates to Theism v Atheism. Sure it's fine for philosophers and debaters, but either one has a deity belief or does not. Agnosticism is not a middle ground, and deals with knowledge. Arguably there can be Agnostic-Atheists and Agnostic-Theists, but it's difficult to accept even these as valid.

[gerontion72]

Religion is for the weak.

[awcbuddy8]

Yet religious people always seem to be in positions of power and atheists are driven into obscurity.

The belief that man can be perfected and that he is master of his universe is a major character flaw (narcissism) and has lead many into oblivion.

[LostHearts]

The first comment here is the best. Short, sweet and to the point. I'm sure Einstein would have agreed with the following quote:

"We would be 1,500 years ahead if it hadn't been for the church dragging science back by its coattails and burning our best minds at the stake." - Catherine Fahringer

Time to put aside mythology and/or fairy tales. The universe is awesome enough for me. Whether there is a creator, god etc. has no interest or bearing on existence for me. It just IS. Perhaps what is so scary to some people is the realization that the universe itself is neutral, and no amount of praying or worship is going to change the fact that we and we alone are responsible for our own choices and actions.

[KOisGod]

PRECISELY !

If one starts to awaken through meditation, you come to the realization that the holy vibration is simply a frequency that we can contact. Its always there, like a radio frequency, we just have to tune in with our inner radio.

There is no judgement, save our own self condemnation. There is no heaven, nor hell, save what we, through our own action attract to ourselves through the laws of magnatism.

Einstein was a MYSTIC - He knew that through his experiences of inspiration and realization, that there exists an intelligence that he was able to tap into, and in those brief instances he was shown the LIGHT. It took him years to prove mathematically, what he saw in a wink of his inner eye.

Mankind is slowly awakening to the capacity Einstein possessed, and those who hear the call - see religion for what it is, an obstacle to inner freedom.

[F33bs]

KOisGod:

You do a real disservice to Einsteins memory by substituting his genius for pseudo-spiritual bullcrap.

He was a smart man, not a mystic.

Grow up.

[GrainOSand]

....and look at what a fine job we do concerning how we treat one another. Got morals or do you have only thoughts of self? I do not mean the specific you LH, but the general us. God and drugs (want a new drug -- Huey Newton) are the same in terms of the adaptation of the premise to so many perversions and unintended things --God as career, God as possessions, God as the big club of war, God as knowledge; women as drugs, career as drugs, blogging as drugs, political power and ambition as drugs. Anything can be distorted, misused, and become the solemn cause of zealots to defend and otherwise protect. This is why I stay clear of religion and embrace the idea of what people loosely term God. How can that which is empty conceive of that which is full? How can that which is corrupt fathom that which is holy? The best I have been able to do is relax in the feeling that there is much I do not know and harbor no desire to convince anyone otherwise. God is personal, yet the spirit of people is the channel of divine discussion that succeeds where words fail.

[MarciaJ720]

Actually, it is brainwashing, in that parents and the church decide what is going to be put into that little child's head.

My sister allowed her kids to go to a very religious (right-wing too) school and they had no concept of evolution. However, after being taught the theory behind it, both my niece and nephew dropped the creationism idea as lame. My niece even confided in me that she used to sit in class and just wonder to herself, "does any of this really make any sense?"

You know what you know. If you were born to Muslim parents, then you know what the Prophet Mohammed taught, if you born to Jewish parents, then you see the world through the Jewish perspective. If you are born to Christian parents, wow, you have a smorgasbord to pick from, as long as you accept Jesus Christ as your lord and saviour (and I thought God told Moses you shall have no Gods before me - yet Jesus is portrayed as a God in the Christian religions - invisible Gods apparently aren't good enough for people).

I quit believing in the God of the Bible when Bush got into office. I knew then there was no God.

It is also interesting that the least religious countries (mainly Scandinavian and European) are also the most peaceful, even within their own borders, so don't tell me that they aren't civil societies.

[KillTheMessenger]

Well, if you are born into Catholicism you have a riddle for life:

So there is God. And God made the universe and all. Fine.

And God has a son, that's Jesus. That's easy, too, he just used Mary as an incubator. I can live with that.

But then there is this third guy called "the holy ghost". And boy is everyone scrambling for words when you actually ask them what the hell that thing is... and what it is good for.

Kind of funny. And that's probably one of those moments where the agnostics/atheists separate from those who have this brain defect called "faith".

[KOisGod]

I too have been confused on who/what the holy Ghost is.

Here is the best explanation I have found:

"Paramhansa Yogananda explained the Christian Trinity (God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) in a cosmic sense. God the Father, he said, is the Infinite Consciousness from which all things were manifested. God's consciousness was one and undivided.

You, I, our earth, the sun and galaxies, our thoughts and inspirations, our very longing to be one with Him again-all are products of the vibrations of His consciousness, separate manifestations of the vast primal vibration of Aum, the Holy Ghost.

The Son of the Trinity represents the underlying presence in a vibratory creation of the calm, unmoving consciousness of the Creator, so called because it rejects the Father's consciousness. Vibratory creation itself is also known as the Divine Mother. The devotee must commune first with Aum, or the Divine Mother. Uniting his consciousness with that, he must proceed to realize his oneness with the Son. Only after achieving union with the Son can he proceed toward oneness with the Father beyond creation.

The Hindu Scriptures name this eternal Trinity, Sat Tat Aum. Sat stands for the Spirit, the Supreme Truth, which is God the Father. Tat is the Kuthastha Chaitanya, the Christ Consciousness which underlies all creation. And Aum is the Word, the Holy Ghost, called also the Comforter in the Bible."

[eurydice]

Well, he was half right.

[Clem2]

I would have to say I agree. It is childish to think you know what "God" is. And children want a black and white universe, a good and evil, very simplistic.

I'm honored that in this regard I am an Einstein!

;-)

[KillTheMessenger]

I don't know if black-white is what children want... but sadly it is what they usually get.

[HumeSkeptic]

One doesn't need to be an Einstein to know that god is the creation of feeble and fearful minds - fearful of the "unknown".

Personally, I have no problem with religion, just as long is it doesn't interefere with morality.

[BMBTHC]

The man didn't brush his teeth much. He didn't like socks. He cheated on his wife and treated his first wife poorly.

I brush and floss. I love socks. I have never cheated on my one and only wife. I have a degree in physics. I also use the word "god" frequently, metaphorically. Nobody seems to care about my religious views.

Concerning my usage: God is a useful word for the body of unknown... the order that seems to be nature. This use of the word will not sufficiently qualify me as a member of any of the Judeo-Christo-Muslim faiths or even a deist. Theists are not the only ones allowed to use it.

There is something interesting about Einstein's religious beliefs, but it says more about our own insecurities of faith than it does about the existence of a god. Our society seems to think that cutting edge theoretical scientists are exploring the sensorium of God. We act as if the book of Nature is greater in power to Good Book. We seem to want religion and science to be the same. Faithful rationalists seem to want an authority to tell them that their faith is ok. They respect Einstein, they respect authority, therefore they respect Einstein's authority. They trust him, even when he muses off topic. Followers looking for the goal and missing all the good stuff, the mysteries along the way.
Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Not the best, but it's got something.

[SolarPowerGuy]

"I also use the word "god" frequently, metaphorically. Nobody seems to care about my religious views."

You are not the world's most widely-recognized scientist then, I take it?

The significance of this letter of Einstein's is that, over the years, religious people have tried to use quotations from Einstein to defend a belief in God. This letter clearly asserts a view which undercuts their effort.

The theists are employing a logical fallacy that they should have learned about in debate club, called "appeal to authority." Person X is well-regarded; person X can be said to hold opinion Y; therefore opinion Y is true. Despite cries of foul play from those who (rightly) do not believe that Einstein's words can be used to support a theist viewpoint, the theists have persisted in pushing their logical fallacy. And many illogical listeners have heard, and believed. Hallelujah.

With the publication of this letter's contents, at least this one bit of nonsense should be laid to rest.

[GrainOSand]

"The man didn't brush his teeth much. He didn't like socks. He cheated on his wife and treated his first wife poorly."

Therefore, we can assume -- Einstein was not God.

[chirps]

I wonder if he washed behind his ears?

[Midnightrain]

Yep. It's a cultural conundrum. A lot of cultures don't separate spirituality from knowledge.

[Cherlesq]

A recent book on Einstein has just been published touting his religius beleifs and supposedly dashing any atheist theories. I am not sure how one squares this new book with thnis letter. I'd be interested in that analysis.

[raw915]

A book does not truth make.

[ohdotoh]

Short cryptic sentences don't either.

[al75]

Einstein's aversion to magical religious thinking is beyond dispute, regardless of any attempt to re-package