Have you read about the Einstein letter found recently and reported in the morning papers?

Einstein used the word "God" metaphorically as a synonym for nature; he had no belief in any traditional religion whatsoever. He didn't like the term "atheist" because to him that meant someone who was extremely dogmatic and inflexible, and the social taboos of the time supported that assessment. If he had realized that the word only meant non-theist he would have had to admit that described himself too.

No doubt the believers will find ways to spin even this statement of his, but what really matters is his heroic contributions to scientific understanding of the real world, on a par with Newton (who was strongly religious) and Darwin (who was not).

I agree and disagree and you left out majority of his letter.

"the bible a collection of honorable but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish"

he talks about the bible, yes it has been edited and twisted to conform with humans' political agenda at the time, but that doesn't mean God does not exist.

"For me, the Jewish religion, like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions."

I don't believe Jewish is God's chosen people - at least not in the way people interpret it, just like Einstein. I don't feel the need for religions - not in the way Einstein interpret as "Childish superstitions".

you left this out:

" 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. 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."

Yes, I have read that comment. I believe "honorable" is correct, because if you leave out all the stuff people argue about, most philosophies do agree on some of the basic principles, like don't cheat, steal, lie etc. Those are "honorable" in a great many societies and religious beliefs.

annnnndddd.....

So what

I've known his feelings about religiion for a long time its not that hard to figure out

The man was brilliant in many things and not so bright in others. This does not make God any more or less real.

And don't compare yourself to him he would have labeled you as one of those pretty childish peopel with out a doubt.

What kills me is people (like you) are thinking this is some great revelation or something

Sheesh read his notes some time its pretty evident

I don't believe this quote comes from Einstein. He was much more intelligent than to hurt his own people that way. I know he was not a religious Jew; but he was an Ethical Jew. An Ethical Jew would not hurt another the way he would not like to be hurt in return.

There must have been 40 q's about this yesterday. And I was hardly on yesterday.

Of course it isn't news. So why is it news? Because atheists are getting more dogmatic about linking themselves with science, that's why. It is an attempt to push Christians out of science, no matter how much harm it causes to mankind.

Check out Einstein's opinion of James Clerk Maxwell. Maxwell was a committed Christian and Einstein credited his physics' contributions to electricity and magnetism as being the most valuable to physics since Newton. (Let me know if you ever see THIS in the news)

Read the headline here on Yahoo and it surprised me, because I was led to believe that he had faith in God. Regardless, it means nothing to me, one way or the other.

Appeal to authority?

At least that is what I get when I offer brilliant minds who believe similarly to myself.

well everyone is free to out his opinion and einstein is not an exception..

Einstein was an expert in physics. He was an idiot in most other subjects including art and theology. He said that he does believe in God just not the Christian God.

Duh! he was jewish.