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Well, Einstein was one of the greatest intellectuals of all times. Hi talent wasn't only a blessing (which he obviously did not realized) but also his curse. He totally relied on his intellect and thus was not able to enjoy the peace of mind what (many) Christians do.

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he was not able to find a peace of mind that many christians do?? how do you know that? how do you know what he was thinking? stop with the self-righteous beliefs that you think everyone who doesnt follow your version of god is for some reason wallowing around in self-pity. who are you to speak for einstein, he wrote what he wrote, you dont know any more then I do what he was thinking..only einstein knows...

" It's more enjoyable if you believe it"? Not for those of us in the present era whose lives have been so negatively altered by certain interpretations of it. Nor those millions throughout history who were tortured, maimed, and murdered because of its abuse by people in power . As a gay Canadian I could relate horror stories about people I'v known who have been subjected to every sort of discrimination , and violence ; including three friends brutally slaughtered , over the last twenty-five years. The aetiology of the negative mindset of those whose actions were those I've described , is conservative religion. In our part of this planet ; that means every version of right wing Christianity.

As an ex-evangelical, I have come to accept that religion is an almost essential attribute of humankind, but that the various religious doctrines and dogmas should be interpreted as myth. We need such mythology, and it can help us come to terms with all that seems to be wrong in the world and in ourselves. But we should not give these things the same credence we do to historical or scientific fact, even if there is often a substantial overlap.

When I go to a church service, I enter into it fully. The image of the Son of God redeeming the world is magnificent and overwhelming. But I don't leave the church believing that the world was created in 6 days, that the Gospels are to be regarded as historically accurate in every detail, or that St. Paul always got it right!

I have read other writings of Einstein (can't remember the book, though), where he described the Hebrew religion as primitive. He considered his belief in "God" -- essentially an impersonal force of math and science -- to be more advanced (what a surprise). So this new letter isn't a surprise to me.

Of course, just because Einstein was brilliant doesn't mean he was right about everything -- he himself admitted that. I'm sorry that he couldn't look at the world and give glory to God for it.

It's comical to see the reaction of evangelicals to this letter.

When Einstein discovered that evangelicals in America were claiming that he was a believer in God he responded that it was a lie, and one that was being systematically repeated. This has been known for decades.

When a prominent Rabbi demanded to know if he believed in God, he responded that he believed in the God of Spinoza, which comment would not have been lost on the Rabbi as Spinoza is the most well known of all atheist apostates from the Jewish faith.

The endless Christian appetite for Urban Legend over reality betrays the true origins of the faith, and the childish, primitive minds of its followers.

Christianity is in itself a rejection of reality by those too simple to comprehend it.

"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" Psalm 14:1

Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." John 18:37

I found the most interesting part of Mr.Greenberg's commentary to be the following sentence "It's more enjoyable, though, if you believe it."

If religion is entertainment, then it should be presented as such. If however, any religion is indeed a natural truth, proof of that truth, beyond the writings of man such as the Torahs, The Bible or Quran, should be easy enough to produce.

Unfortunately, the only proof of any religion has always been to point to books written by men, or to point to those mysteries science has not yet explained and claim those mysteries for God.

If we as the human race were to eradicate the fairy tales we promote as truths, we would eliminate the greatest bastion of safety for charlatans that prey financially upon the masses. Charlatans such as Popes, Priests, Pastors, Reverends, Ministers, Rabbi's, Mullahs and Ayatollahs.

We as a people have been victimized by the infrastructure of organized religion for thousands of years, many know this and many more are realizing it everyday. As we eliminate organized religions we will foster peace and harmony throughout the world. More people have been swindled and killed in the name of God than in the name of all other causes combined.

Let me ask you this: If you religious zealots had the intellectual capacity to understand science and evolution, would you update your outdated views, or blindly cling onto them?

Let's put it this way... what would you think of a group in modern society that fully believes Greek mythology, with Zeus, Hades, Apollo... the whole bit, and based their worldview on that.

Crazy, right? Yeah, that's how we atheists see you guys.

As far as ancient history goes, I prefer Caesar's Gallic Wars. More entertaining and more true.

Yikes - easy does it. The author is clearly being tongue-in-cheek with his "It's more enjoyable, though, if you believe it." comment. Stop taking everything so seriously, especially in the blogosphere.

And why do you atheists run over to the Christianity Today blog to make comments all the time - I don't bother going on to your sites to mock you. Don't you have more constructive things to do with your time?

What I find interesting in many of the comments from those who might call themselves "enlightened" is the anger and venom in their remarks. Rather than calmly and reasonably stating their concerns they seemed more to want to vent their anger and disdain at those who they "pity" because of their simple-mindedness. Consider this - the fruit of our spirit will be shown. If someone spews forth words of anger and insult then I know a lot about their inner heart - whether they are Einstein, or someone else.

Einstein had a genius IQ, but that does not mean he was smart in all things. As a matter of fact he was quite ignorant in many areas, and it appears he missed a great opportunity to acknowledge the fact that he was created the same as the rest of us. You don't have to have a high IQ or formal education to understand the presence of God in our lives. Just look at the poor crop of university professors we have spouting new age, or no age religion today. God is real Praise him...

Violet,

Wow. It is amazing that you think all Christians (who comprise fully 76% of all Americans) are too stupid to make intelligent choices about what they believe.

There is more legitimate evidence for the accuracy of the Gospels (by a factor of several hundred) than for the writings of Plato, and yet no one questions the accuracy of his writings. We send people to life in prison on the testimony of one eyewitness, but we refuse to accept the eyewitness accounts of thousands as relates to the events in the New Testament.

I'd much rather put myself in the intellectual company of C.S. Lewis, Ravi Zacharias, Soren Kierkegaard, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lincoln & Washington, G.K. Chesterton, and Augustine of Hippo - an admirable collection of thinkers and influencers if ever there was one - than Friedrich Nietzsche, Emma Goldman, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, Ayn Rand, Albert Camus, Karl Marx, Peter Singer, Jean Paul Sartre, and Alfred Kinsey - a troubled lot of depressed doom-sayers, many of whom committed suicide or ended their days raving mad and alone.

You tell me who's crazy...

"More people have been swindled and killed in the name of God than in the name of all other causes combined?" You do not know history. The abuses "in the name of God," are a drop in the bucket compared to the millions upon millions slaughtered in the name of Godless atheism. Stalin, Marx, Lenin, Pol Pot, Hitler, etc. While the institutional church has its' problems, mass murder isn't one of them. Most people mention the Crusades as their criticism of Christianity. Fine. Do you know when the Crusades occurred? Look it up. The above mentioned murderers were in the 20th century alone. We would be wise not to "cut off our nose to spite our face."

Actually, Spinoza was not an atheist, but a pantheist.
Einstein's views are not surprising, as he had no technical knowledge nor scholar background to interpret the Bible. So he shared emotional and non-rational prejudices common among non-believers. You can see a lot of mistakes in his writings about religion.
It is also interesting to see how non-believers insist in seeing some criminals non-practicing Christians as representative, but not really practicing Christians (like Mother Theresa, St Francis or Gandhi or millions more) who gave their lives for the poorest people (including gay people...). Or most philosophers and scientists, who have been believers.

Additional comment: unless you rely in pseudo-history, certainly more people have been killed in the name of atheists and non-religious ideologies than in the name of God. Worst genocide, for instance, was carried out by Stalin in the name of communist atheism. And the French Revolution killed more people in the name of Reason Goddess in three years than the Inquisition in the previous four centuries.

Mr. Lischen and Fred, I dare say I could find many religious "zealots" who have a far higher intellectual capacity than yourselves and who certainly do not have primitive minds. You betray great intellectual insecurity yourselves by resorting to name-calling rather than actual debate.

Violet, I do believe that you will find plenty of people who will do plenty of awful things without any sort of religion. After all, Stalin and Mao were responsible for millions more deaths than even Hitler and both were avowed athiests. More people have died at the hands of athiests in the 20th century than of theists. Prisons are not exactly full of devoutly religious people. Enron CEOs and their buddies in other corporations haven't been acting in the interest of any god other than themselves. Athiesm will not prevent people from finding ways to take advantage of and kill others.

Let's all try to be more honest and fair with one another, theists and athiests alike.

Well, I'm glad to see the readership of CT includes so many intellectuals. Intellect can accomplish great things in this world--like atomic bombs-- but very little in the next. And the next is going to last a lot longer than this one. There is a world of difference between intellectual knowledge, which comprehends the natural phenomena of this world, and wisdom, which comprehends the supernatural. Those who do not recognize the existence of the supernatural may be as brilliant as Einstein, and at the head of the class in this world, but will be accounted least in the kingdom of heaven, and are in fact in great danger of missing it entirely.

As an evangelical Christian, I find it sad that atheists always seem to point a finger at us Christians demanding proof or accusing us of a lack of "intellectual capacity." We need show you atheists no more proof than a life transformed. However, like any people, we are just as subject to the slings and arrows of our own humanity, and we can be just as petty and hateful as the next person. The difference is that the best of us (and I do not count myself among them) find peace throughout our lives in the hope of Christ, and when we die we never die alone for He is always with us. But the apostate and atheist might light live a life of peace - although precious few do - and will die utterly alone, sure only of the very end of their days, with no hope at all. Intelligence and faith can work together, they need not be enemies. But atheists always want to make them so. Sad, so very sad indeed.

I don't know why Christians keep on saying Hitler was an atheist:

“I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so.”

“I may not be a light of the church, a pulpiteer, but deep down I am a pious man, and believe that whoever fights bravely in defense of the natural laws framed by God and never capitulates will never be deserted by the Lawgiver, but will, in the end, receive the blessings of Providence.”

“Anyone who dares to lay hands on the highest image of the Lord commits sacrilege against the benevolent creator of this miracle and contributes to the expulsion from paradise.”

As for Stalin, Mao etc, when one is atheist, you no longer kill for a religion as you haven't got one, they killed for other reasons. It's absurd how Christians spout these names, atheist kills X number of people therefore ATHEISM killed X many people. Even if these people killed SOLELY for atheism as Christians like to say, the number still doesn't match the bloodshed that religion has caused.

Glenn

See, thats where you make assumptions of atheists and agnostics. I love life! I'm gonna make the most of it, and when I die, I die. All too often I see people living their lives in a mundane manner, all with the hope that they will end up in heaven. All throughout the bible it talks about putting up with the harshness of life or your slavemaster or what have you, all with the hope of going to heaven (although i see this as the ultimate control mechanism). This life, right here, is the life I know and will take advantage of. I used to be a Christian growing up, but couldnt stand the ridiculous doctrine of heaven and hell, with no real proof of it other then a book written thousands of years ago. But I have no problem with people believing whatever they want, what I do have a problem with is when people try to force their views, in a misguided attempt to "save" them. Homosexuality is somewhat gross to me, to be honest, but why should I make it the determining factor in a political election? Why would I withold valuable stem cell research funds from thousands of people with dibilitating diseases (and I love how its always the fit and nimble that damn federal funding of it). And why (this one boggles my mind) would the religious right scream and shout that global warming is a liberal agenda, and is blinding society to the real ills of society (abortion and gay rights). Look, I dont know what you believe exactly, and I know not everyone is part of the religious right. But at the same time, dont speak for atheists like you know what you are talking about.

Violet wrote - "Let me ask you this: If you religious zealots had the intellectual capacity to understand science and evolution, would you update your outdated views, or blindly cling onto them?"

With all due respect, evolution is the outdated view. Scientific discoveries are continually and more frequently showing that the world had/has an intelligent designer - i.e., the Cambrian Explosion.

The real issue isn't intellectual capacity... it is intellectual honesty!

Ro. 1:18-23 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Einstein stated that "My position concerning God is that of an agnostic. I am convinced that a vivid consciousness of the primary importance of moral principles for the betterment and ennoblement of life does not need the idea of a law-giver, especially a law-giver who works on the basis of reward and punishment."[53] Einstein also stated: "I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth".
"In view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what really makes me angry is that they quote me for the support of such views."
Einstein wasn't a Christian, wasn't an Orthodox Jew, but he also wasn't an atheist, as he clearly states. Like most of us, he was uncertain.

I have always thought of Einstein as a deist. If this letter is authentic one can see that he did not have much room for traditional religion, but not necessarily for a god that is the source of the order in the world. Both A. N. Whitehead and A. Einstein had similar views of religion and a universal order-principle. St. Thomas Aquinas would point out, however, that this order-principle is whom we as Christians call God, that is to say, there is a leap of faith required to link this order-principle with the God of Revelation. Unlike the younger Walter Thirring, these two grand intellectuals could not go that far it seems.

Sonny,
You are not consistent. You disagree with "atheists killed X... therefore atheism killed X..." And then you says that "religion" killed people... because self-called "religious" persons killed people...
Of course Hitler (and every politician) would say that he shared the beliefs of the people... But see the facts. A specific concentration camp was devoted exclusively to catholic priests and bishops (more than 3000 were killed there)... 3 million Christians were murdered in concentration camps because their opposition to Nazism... Nazism was condemned by the Catholic Church in 1937. I do not think Hitler was an atheist either, he just did not care about it. He killed in the name of a secular non-religious ideology.
Serious research shows that religion is a restraint to violence. Mother Therese was a practising Catholic, not Hitler. Nobody kills because he/she believes that God is Love, but in spite of this belief.
History (not newspapers or TV) shows it: most murders (and today, most terrorist attacks) are due to atheist or secular ideologies, not religious.

Atheism actually IS a religion, or more importantly, a worldview. Atheists are also not aware that they are not really "atheists." An "atheist" would be someone that knows absolutely, 100% for sure that there is NO God. All atheists are actually just "agnostic," they don't know for sure that God does or doesn't exist, but they simply don't care to believe He does. If they've actually read the whole Bible, they've chosen to BELIEVE it's all a myth, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. They have FAITH that it isn't real, that this life has no consequences, that heaven and hell do not exist. This gives them the freedom to believe whatever they want, to live however they want. Unfortunately, atheists deceive themselves, and sometimes others. The reality is that history and archaeology have proven time and again that the Bible is true. We Christians simply have to pray that God will open their eyes before it's too late for them to accept Christ as their Savior.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Our worldview determines how we interpret reality. Where one person sees intelligence and the handwork of the Creator God, another might see the work of chance and random mutations. The choice is ours, and if we logically walk the way we choose, the choice will eventually determine our eternal destiny.

It is amazing how history and archaeology support even the minor political-historical details of for instance what Luke wrote in Acts, but we should not really be surprised since God inspired him to record real history and not Greek fables.

I believe in God and in Christ, his son, because I have seen the effects they have had on my life. I have made many mistakes in my life which have hurt people and have reflected poorly upon myself, and these mistakes have not totally stopped simply because I have a savior. God has walked with me through the illness of a child (expected to be, but not, terminal) marital difficulties, bad choices and personal character flaws, and He has forgiven me and stuck with me to this day.
It is very sad to hear people on both sides of this argument blame religion or lack of same for the evils which arise from our hearts. It is clear that people sin for their own agenda, and that many acquire supporters in their sin by convincing those of susceptible mind that they are on God's side.
I prefer the view taken by Abraham Lincoln, a humble man of notable accomplishment, who prayed not that God would be found to be on his side, but that he would be judged to have been on God's side.
Joshua encountered an angel of the Lord before going into battle and asked whose side he was on: the answer was that he was on neither side buit was indeed the commander of God's armies. Amen

I believe that the christians judging einstien as unhappy and unfulfulled are very arrogant, and ignorant. I am an ex christian, and I believe Einstien was not only a Pagan, but in the pagan's version of heaven. We pagans predate your religion, and reguardless of what you or your bible thinks of us, we were here longer, and we do have our own pantheon of Gods and Goddesses. Although you arrogant christians call use false, demons etc. we have been here much longer, and we wont go away no matter how many times you would love to wipe us out. Whew. Besides, didnt your bibles tell you not to judge others? christians really dont like paying attention, do they?

How interesting! I hope more CT bloggers can come up with more ideas filled with passion defending their point of view of what Einstein penned in a letter on my 5th birthday (Jan 3,1954). What was it that Einstein said after all – that he felt Christian faith was childish? Hmm… At the tender age of 5, yes I was a child. But my childlike faith in Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy subsided a year or two later. I did enjoy sitting on Santa’s lap in the stores. I went through a period of doubting what I was taught as a child about God. I tried a little bit of this and a little bit of that like a smorgasbord of explanations of what Einstein also observed – the harmony of the universe – how wonderfully life came to “be”. I asked the question: where did “matter” come from? Science failed me. If we all began as a single cell swimming around in an oily pool of muck, where did the single cell come from? Where did the oily pool of muck come from? Where did the universe come from? Do I need “faith” to "beleive" that the universe always existed? “Faith” is the emotion-filled word that woos us. How much of what we believe is comprised of “faith”? As JerryR stated, “…it is sad that faith and intellect are made to be great enemies by some people…”. Sad is right

few of the christians I know have the peace we speak of with glib assumption. fortunately the north american christian is not the model. Jesus is.
annk

I know many PHd scientists, some are believers and some are not. I know many Jewish people, I was involved with an outreach to Jewish people, I never saw one conversion to Christianity...not one. I believe that the key to disbelief is not found in the mind of a person, but rather in the heritage of their roots. It is my experience that heritage will defeat intellect most every time.

I guess I'll never get to meet him as he will most likely be in Hell since he never accepted the Lord Jesus and his blood atonement. But he will bow down before the Lord before he makes that one last journey. All unbelievers will. Say what you will about Evangelicals. Call us anything you want, but don't ever say we didn't warn you. We tell you the truth in Love. If you call us insensitive and cruel, intolerant so be it. Intolerance works both ways. You would like an immoral country where anything goes, and we don't want to raise our children in that type of environment. Praise God we might not have to in the near future.

I must admit that I am fascinated by the argument which says that religion is responsible for more death and cruelty than atheism.

One version of this argument states that since "atheists do not kill for religious reasons" but religious people obviously do, then it follows that religious people are the worst practitioners of death and mayhem. This argument of course has several flaws.

First, it is disingenuous and tautologous to say that atheists do not kill for religious reasons. It is like eating your cake and having it too.

Second, not everyone who says they are religious may actually be. people have used religion and faith as a cloak for their cruelty and excesses.

Third, relgious persons, like atheists, may be motivated by other than religious or non-religious reasons. In fact, they have been in history few purely religious conflicts. Close investigation of wars especially will show that even when religious persons are involved, these are more often than not concerned with practical matters such as land, water, mineral resources, power, influence, liberation etc.

Fourth, it can never be enough to refer to someone who has committed some atrocity as religious when there is liitle in terms of personal declaration or lifestyle to demonstrate such. For example, for those who know and understand the Bible, where would the evidence be in Hitler's voluminous mouthings or his writings to support declaring him a Christian?

Fifth, since world-views differ and some are obviously incompatible with others it is unwise (and also unfair), to propose that
someone could be, for example, a communist and religious at the same time, except one means to say that communism is itself a religion - a position most communist would certainly repudiate.

Before one begins the actual body count one would also have to define such terms as "religious" and "atheist". Having established these one must then not try to label persons one or the other without convincing and irrefutable evidence.

It never ceases to amaze me how quick some people are to claim someone famous as being one of their own. Just recently when Steve Irwin (Crikey! its a Crocodile) died, his wife, Terri, was said to be a believing Christian of the evangelical persuasion. This is because, certain Australians wanted to identify with the fame, no doubt.

I even heard that Steve Irwin had recently become a Christian, too. He somehow knew he was going to get speared by a stingray.

Not long afterwards Terri Irwin invited John Edwards to get messages from her dear departed Steve. Of course, John Edwards told her what she wanted to believe.

No matter what you believe, death will always find you out. I think the wisest think then is to find out first what happens at death, and then, once having found out the answer, go and live your life as you think fit.

Happy Riches

www.happyriches.name

I am not surprised at all how atheist and other nonreligious people deny or say God is a fairy tale, it's human nature to want to get rid of the all-knowing God, is scary to know somebody is watching you when you know you are doing something wrong, we like the night-life, because we love the darkness, we assume we can hide in the dark, but we still know there is an eye watching us, and that is very uncomfortable, there is a popular bumper sticker out there, "NO RULES" that is my point, if we can just get rid of God, we will be able to live "la vida loca" live life as we please, NO RULES, NO ACCOUTABILITY, how convenient huh? let's kill God and and the problem is solved. NO PROBLEM.

Einstein was one of the great scientists but he made big mistake in his profession: he did not believe in quantum mechanics. Einstein discovered relativity but as a human being he fumbled in his life like may of us.

Other great scientists such as Max Planck, Enrico Fermi, Heisenberg, Max Born, James Maxwell, Farady , Lemaitre ( the one discovered the Big Bang), Chrales Townsend (laser), Arno Penzias ( cosmic radiation= proof of Big Bang), Raymond( father of MRI), Allan Sandage, Mikman, Compton .... were devout Christians.

God's grace is open to all regardless of one's education, race, intelligence ...

Notes on Einstein's religious belief:

Atheists seem very eager to claim Einstein for one of their own. Richard Dawkins devotes a whole section to Einstein in The God Delusion and Christopher Hitchens' Portable Atheist is peppered with Einstein quotations seemingly rejecting all belief in God. Recently an Einstein letter surfaced which showed the great scientist scorning the idea that the Jews were in any sense God's chosen people.

But all that these quotations prove is that Einstein was not an orthodox believer. He rejected the idea of a personal God "who would directly influence the actions of individuals or would sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation." Einstein also rejeted the immortality of the soul, noting that "one life is enough for me."

At the same time, Walter Isaacson in his celebrated new biography Einstein provides ample evidence that Einstein not only believed in a higher or transcendent power, but also that Einstein despised atheists. Here are some quotations, drawn from Isaacson's book with full documentation, that I offer as a needed counterbalance to the one-sided list provided by Dawkins, Hitchens and the others.

On whether he considered himself religious: "Yes, you could call it that. Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this foce beyond anything we can comprehend is my religion."

On whether he accepted the historical existence of Christ: "Unquestionably! No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life."

On whether he considered himself an atheist: "I'm not an atheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what that is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of the most intelligent human toward God."

On the nature of God: "That deeply emotional conviction of a presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God."

On whether science leads to religion: "Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of nature--a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort."

On how religion motivates scientific inquiry: "The cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research."

On whether science and religion are at odds: "The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

On how he feels about atheist efforts to claim him as an ally: "There are people who say there is no God, but what makes me really angry is that they quote me for support of such views."

On how he regards atheists: "The fanatical atheists...are creatures who cannot her the music of the spheres. I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist. What separates me from most so-called atheists is a feeling of utter humility toward the unattainable secrets of the harmony of the cosmos."

http://news.aol.com/newsbloggers/2008/05/21/einsteins-god/4

On how he regards atheists: "The fanatical atheists...are creatures who cannot her the music of the spheres. I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist. What separates me from most so-called atheists is a feeling of utter humility toward the unattainable secrets of the harmony of the cosmos."

---

In that case, Einstein misunderstood what "atheism" means (like most people). His most forceful statement on Theism cannot be subverted to mean something else: "The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. For me, the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions." In no way can this be interpreted as a pro-religion statement. If you think it does, you are simply being dishonest.

The atheist very often feels "humility toward the secrets of the harmony of the cosmos."
We are very interested in "the music of the spheres," and other concepts of astronomy. If Einstein could have known that statements he made misunderstanding atheism would be used decades later to bolster the anti-science "intelligent design" crowd, I feel quite confident he would have regretted it.

Whether or not believing in the supernatural is good for you, logically it does not work out. People may talk about how happy they are with their beliefs, but the thing I like is that I can think about and do whatever I want rationally and without the fear of some sort of punishment or objection by a "higher power".

It dawned on me recently that I can now look at the ceiling, or the sky, and not worry about if something is looking down at me. It's just a fifth wall now. I've felt more secure in my thoughts because of this, and I make sure that my thoughts are based solely on logic. Mysticism has no effect on me any longer, besides annoyance at the saying of nothings that sound good to the ear.

And for those of you who believe in Pascal's wager, I propose that God is a person who only accepts heterosexual, white, male atheists into heaven. If you believe, then you will certainly go to hell AND waste your time believing in nonsense, but if you do not believe then you will live a life of logic and reason and you will be rewarded, or not because this god hates anyone who is not a straight white male for some reason that is beyond our ways of thinking.

So if you believe, you need to promote atheism only, and accept your fate.

Of course this is all ridiculous but it is as much of a possibility as the Christian ideology, which is almost none. Most atheists only need a little encouragement to technically agnostics, but I prefer to use the term atheist as a de facto label for my beliefs. People should not be sure of anything, but we should not be 50/50 about everything. Every mainstream religion should not be given any more credibility then every mock religion. They may not be 0% possible, but I feel that I can safely say that they are not true.

Christianity is innately totalitarian and solipsistic. Thankfully there are a few intellectuals like Einstein, Darwin, and Hawking who rightfully expose the childishness that is Christianity as well as every monotheism.

I think those who do not understand Christianity distort it and defame it. I am a Christian because the world view is so true to life. We see how science and math work together designed by God. Even Einstein understood this - though he wanted a god of his own design. How can you explain this world without God. You have to take out your brain and flush it down the toilet. We see design throughout life! Are the billions and billions of processes that make life some random chance due to evolution. Hardly! The transfer of information is so complex and amazing during the development of a lifeform. The precision of the processes do not compare to the most advanced systems that we design. The notion of it developing from nothing is the most ignorant belief. The aethist is the one who is anti-science. But it makes you feel good to think that you have a reason for existence without God. I can accept this but please don't try to convince me of the superiority of your belief, for it is truly irrational! Without God, even the most evil crime can be justified. Who can say that anything is wrong? How irrational - for this flies in the face of our innermost subconscious beliefs. Who can say that slavery is wrong? Who can say that mass murder is wrong? There is no reason for this without God! It is only a matter of opinion.

EINSTEINS MIND CENTERED ON WHAT IS AND WHAT WHAT MAKES IT WHAT IT IS.SPIRITUALISM WAS NEVER A CONSIDERATION.HE KNEW WHO HE WAS AND WHAT PEOPLE THOUGHT OF HIM. HE WAS SOUGHT OF A GOD HIMSELF AND HE WAS NOT UNMINDFULL OF IT.WHO ELSE COULD GET AWAY WITH SLEEPING WITH THERE FIRST COUSIN WHILE BEING MARRIED,FLIRTING WITH OTHER WOMAN ALL WHILE BEING MARRIED AND STILL ADMIRED AND LOOKED AT IN AWE BY A WORLD OF PEOPLE.HERE IS A MAN WHO SAID, "HAD I KNOWN THE GERMANS WOULD NOT SUCCEED IN BUILING THE ATOMIC BOMB, I WOULD HAVE DONE NOTHING".A BRILLIANT MIND THAT WAS IN CONFLICT WITH ITSELF.

It dawned on me recently that I can now look at the ceiling, or the sky, and not worry about if something is looking down at me. It's just a fifth wall now. I've felt more secure in my thoughts because of this, and I make sure that my thoughts are based solely on logic. Mysticism has no effect on me any longer, besides annoyance at the saying of nothings that sound good to the ear.