Einstein and God

The purpose of this blog is to encourage people to think for themselves, and not to accept as fact everything they see and hear. I use the word lemmings to describe these people; they follow blindly without questioning. I see articles, videos, and news items daily that spout alleged facts. I hear, or participate in, conversations where I hear unfounded assertions. This blog’s purpose is not to persuade you one way or another; it is to encourage you to research things for yourself. I sincerely hope you enjoy my blog.-Pete

A friend of mine on Face book recently posted a video named "Does God exist?” Of course, this question has been, and will be, debated forever. This is a good example of the purpose for my blog-a place to get people to research things for themselves.

The video is supposedly "a true story". Lemmings will take this as the truth, without question. The video shows a young Albert Einstein disagreeing with his instructor's statement that "If God exist, he is evil". Einstein points out, using laws of physics, that cold, dark, and evil do not exist; they are merely the absence of the opposite. Then young Einstein makes a statement about "...God's love in their hearts". This is where all credibility ceases to exist. The insinuation of the video is that Einstein believed in God as a loving being. This is simply a lie. Unlike the video, I will cite actual quotations, with references. You can then decide for your selves.

The first quote is from Einstein's response to Rabbi Herbert Goldstein's question "Do you believe in God?” Einstein replied "I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings” (Stenger, 2003).

Einstein was labeled an Atheist based on comments like this one:
"It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere.... Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death" (Einstein, 1930)

In response to this labeling, Einstein responded:
"I'm not an atheist, and I don't think I can call myself a pantheist. 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 it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God" (Jammer, 1999).

The video only claims that this is a true story, yet offers no references.I have provided you with quotes from Einstein himself. It is up to you to decide where the credibility lies.I will not say what I believe. My belief is irrelevant. I am just trying to encourage you to question and research things for yourself. That is the purpose of my blog. Remember, the truth is out there…you just have to look for it.

References

Einstein, A. (1930, November 9,). Religion and Science . New York Times Magazine .

Jammer, M. (1999). Einstein and Religion. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Stenger, V. (2003). Has Science Found God? Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus.