[Rouzbeh]

Einstein’s Religious Views


On the Bible:
In his autobiographical notes (written at age 67) he says, "Thus I came--despite the fact that I was the son of entirely irreligious (Jewish) parents--to a deep religiosity, which, however, found an abrupt ending at the age of 12. Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true."

1. In the Stages of Religion: In an article entitled "Religion and Science," Einstein identifies three stages of religion:
   1. a religion of fear (the primitive man’s religion),
   2. a social or moral religion, and
   3. a cosmic religious feeling (Einstein’s religion).
   Common to the first two stages--but not to the third--is an anthropomorphic conception of God. Of the "cosmic religious feeling," Einstein says, "It is very difficult to elucidate this feeling to anyone who is entirely without it, especially as there is no anthropomorphic conception of God corresponding to it."

1. 
   He also said, "The religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by this kind of religious feeling, which knows no dogma and no God conceived in man’s image; so that there can be no church whose central teachings are based on it. Hence it is precisely among the heretics of every age that we find men who were filled with the highest kind of religious feeling and were in many cases regarded by their contemporaries as atheists, sometimes also as saints. Looked at in this light, men like Democritus, Francis of Assisi, and Spinoza are closely akin to one another."
2. On a Personal God
   1. "I do not believe in a personal God …."
   2. "The man who is thoroughly convinced of the universal operation of the law of causation cannot for a moment entertain the idea of a being who interferes in the course of events--provided, of course, that he takes the hypothesis of causality really seriously. He has no use for the religion of fear and equally little for social or moral religion. A God who rewards and punishes is inconceivable to him for the simple reason that a man’s actions are determined by necessity, external and internal, so that in God’s eye he cannot be responsible, any more than an inanimate object is responsible for the motions it undergoes."
   3. "I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation. I cannot do this in spite of the fact that mechanistic causality has, to a certain extent, been placed in doubt by modern science."
3. On the Power of Prayer: "Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the actions of people. For this reason, a research scientist will hardly be inclined to believe that events could be influenced by a prayer, i.e., by a wish addressed to a supernatural Being."

On Souls and Immortality

1. 1. "[T]he concept of a soul without a body seems to me to be empty and devoid of meaning."
   2. "I do not believe in immortality of the individual …."
2. On Morality and Ethics
   1. "I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it."
   2. "Morality is of the highest importance--but for us, not for God."
   3. "There is nothing divine about morality; it is a purely human affair."
   4. "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."
3. On Spinoza's Influence: The Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza greatly influenced Einstein’s religious views. In his book, "Albert Einstein--Creator & Rebel," Banesh Hoffmann says, "[Einstein] was one of the most religious of men, but his religious beliefs, too deep for adequate delineation in words, were close to those of the 17th-century Jewish philosopher Spinoza, whom Jews had excommunicated. Einstein, with his feelings of humility, awe, and wonder and his sense of oneness with the universe, belongs with the great religious mystics. In a letter in 1929 he spoke of himself as a ‘disciple’ of Spinoza, who looked upon all nature as God. [W]hen asked … if he believed in God, he … repl[ied], ‘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.’ His attitude toward Spinoza was one of profound reverence."
4. ."

On God's Thoughts

1. said, "I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details."
2. In this regard, Bronowski (in his book "The Ascent of Man") says of Einstein, "His vision of nature … was that of a human being in the presence of something god-like …." Bronowski goes on to say, "Einstein was a man who could ask immensely simple questions. And what life showed, and his work, is that when the answers are simple too, then you hear God thinking."

1. Having now read Einstein's religious views, you might ask yourself the following questions:

1. Was Einstein an atheist? [A web site devoted to "dead atheists" has him on its list. To access the list, click here.]
2. Must morality be based on religion?
3. What chance today would one of Einstein's persuasion have of becoming a dean or the president of a religious (say Baptist or Catholic) university?
4. What chance today has one of Einstein's persuasion to be elected president of the United States?