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[del]

How do you explain Einstein being an atheist?

How do you explain yourself being an atheist?

einstein wasn't an atheist.

“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. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.”

Albert Einstein, to Guy H. Raner Jr., September 28, 1949; from Michael R. Gilmore, "Einstein's God: Just What Did Einstein Believe About God?," Skeptic, 1997, 5(2):64.

Albert Einstein: Thoughts of a Freethinker

 

[Anguille]

einstein wasn't an atheist.

“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. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.”

Albert Einstein, to Guy H. Raner Jr., September 28, 1949; from Michael R. Gilmore, "Einstein's God: Just What Did Einstein Believe About God?," Skeptic, 1997, 5(2):64.

Albert Einstein: Thoughts of a Freethinker

Yeah, note the date, 1949, and note that he qualifies atheist with professional and crusading. He say "you may call me" not I am. He lived in times when a scientist's research would lose funding if he was open about his atheism.

 

[Steerpike]

He made it quite clear he was an atheist. He described himself as such. He complained about people who thought academics needed some kind of religious qualification. He did so after he attained the renown and his chair at Princeton. When the Red Scare and McCarthy would have less power to blacklist him.

Back then they tried to tie atheism to a political movement to demonize it. Just like now the ignorant do with the Moslems.

Einstein explicitly defined himself as an agnostic.

In a 1950 letter to M. Berkowitz, 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."

Del's quote is also pertinent.

 

[Steerpike]

Yeah, note the date, 1949, and note that he qualifies atheist with professional and crusading. He say "you may call me" not I am. He lived in times when a scientist's research would lose funding if he was open about his atheism.

So in other words, even though he SAID he was agnostic, you've seen into his deceased heart and realized he was actually an atheist trying to protect his funding....

 

[Anguille]

Einstein explicitly defined himself as an agnostic.

In a 1950 letter to M. Berkowitz, 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."

Del's quote is also pertinent.

See my response to del. Note the date of your quote as well. In any case, agnostics are not believers.

 

[Anguille]

So in other words, even though he SAID he was agnostic, you've seen into his deceased heart and realized he was actually an atheist trying to protect his funding....

He never even stated he was agnostic. You are misquoting him.

 

[Anguille]

einstein wasn't an atheist.

“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. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.”

Albert Einstein, to Guy H. Raner Jr., September 28, 1949; from Michael R. Gilmore, "Einstein's God: Just What Did Einstein Believe About God?," Skeptic, 1997, 5(2):64.

Albert Einstein: Thoughts of a Freethinker

del, if you keep this up, jack in the box will pop up. You know he lurks ...

 

[Steerpike]

He never even stated he was agnostic. You are misquoting him.

It's a direct quote from a letter. Saying it is a misquote demonstrates nothing. If you think the letter is quoted wrongly, provide the actual quote.

 

[del]

Yeah, note the date, 1949, and note that he qualifies atheist with professional and crusading. He say "you may call me" not I am. He lived in times when a scientist's research would lose funding if he was open about his atheism.

yeah, in 1949, einstein was worried about funding.
okay.

 

[Anguille]

yeah, in 1949, einstein was worried about funding.
okay.

If that's the only weak spot you can find in my post ...

 

[Anguille]

It's a direct quote from a letter. Saying it is a misquote demonstrates nothing. If you think the letter is quoted wrongly, provide the actual quote.

Where does he say, "I am an agnostic"?

 

[del]

He never even stated he was agnostic. You are misquoting him.

“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.”

Albert Einstein in a letter to M. Berkowitz, October 25, 1950; Einstein Archive 59-215; from Alice Calaprice, ed., The Expanded Quotable Einstein, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2000, p. 216.

Albert Einstein: Thoughts of a Freethinker

 

[Steerpike]

Where does he say, "I am an agnostic"?

Did you read the quote I posted? He says his position is that of an agnostic. What do you take that to mean?

 

[del]

If that's the only weak spot you can find in my post ...

i didn't look very hard

 

[Anguille]

Did you read the quote I posted? He says his position is that of an agnostic. What do you take that to mean?

That he presents his position as that of an agnostic. In 1950. Nowhere does he say I am an agnostic.

"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." - Albert Einstein, in a letter responding to philosopher Eric Gutkind, who had sent him a copy of his book Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt; quoted from James Randerson, "Childish Superstition

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms."
-- Albert Einstein, obituary in New York Times, 19 April 1955, quoted from James A Haught, "Breaking the Last Taboo" (1996)

"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, 1954, from Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press

 

[Steerpike]

That he presents his position as that of an agnostic. In 1950. Nowhere does he say I am an agnostic.

"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." - Albert Einstein, in a letter responding to philosopher Eric Gutkind, who had sent him a copy of his book Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt; quoted from James Randerson, "Childish Superstition

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms."
-- Albert Einstein, obituary in New York Times, 19 April 1955, quoted from James A Haught, "Breaking the Last Taboo" (1996)

"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, 1954, from Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press

None of this is contrary to the position of agnosticism. And he does not claim to be an atheist anywhere. Instead, he claims that is position is that of an agnostic. So I'll take him at his written word.

 

[del]

That he presents his position as that of an agnostic. In 1950. Nowhere does he say I am an agnostic.

"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." - Albert Einstein, in a letter responding to philosopher Eric Gutkind, who had sent him a copy of his book Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt; quoted from James Randerson, "Childish Superstition

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms."
-- Albert Einstein, obituary in New York Times, 19 April 1955, quoted from James A Haught, "Breaking the Last Taboo" (1996)

"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, 1954, from Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press

weak. he states repeatedly that he doesn't believe in a personal god and that his position is that of an agnostic.

sorry he didn't break it down into the exact words you require.

 

[Anguille]

weak. he states repeatedly that he doesn't believe in a personal god and that his position is that of an agnostic.

sorry he didn't break it down into the exact words you require.

weaker .....

 

[Anguille]

I heard it straight from God, Einstein was an atheist and he was right.

 

[Steerpike]

weak. he states repeatedly that he doesn't believe in a personal god and that his position is that of an agnostic.

sorry he didn't break it down into the exact words you require.

And, in fact, the refutation of a "personal" God aligns quiet well with a position of agnosticism, and also aligns with his other statements on the subject as a whole. His statements as a whole, however, contradict the assertion of atheism. Further, he explicitly said he wasn't an atheist.

"I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings."

"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."

"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 arrangements 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."

NOTE: the last quote above, where he explicitly says "I am not an atheist" comes from a 1929 interview he did with a journalist where he was explicitly asked if he believed in Spinoza's God.