No party affiliation
Posts: 2,003 
Location: Oshawa
Location: Oshawa
May 13th, 2008, 12:28 PM
May 13, 2008
Jill Lawless
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON – A letter being auctioned in London this week is sure to add fuel to the long-simmering debate about the religious views of Albert Einstein.
In the note, written a year before his death, the Nobel prize-winning physicist dismisses the idea of God as the product of human weakness and the Bible as "pretty childish."
The letter, handwritten in German, is being sold by Bloomsbury Auctions on Thursday.
It is expected to fetch between $12,000 and $16,000.
Einstein, who helped unravel the mysteries of the universe with his theory of relativity often expressed complex and arguably contradictory views on faith.
He apparently perceived a universe suffused with spirituality while rejecting organized religion.
The letter up for sale, was written to philosopher Eric Gutkind in January 1954 and suggests that Einstein's view on religion did not mellow with age.
In it, Einstein said that "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."
"For me," he added, "the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions."
Addressing the idea that the Jews are God's chosen people, Einstein wrote that "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 also 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."
Bloomsbury spokesman Richard Caton said the auction house was ``100 per cent certain" of the letter's authenticity. It is being offered at auction for the first time, by a private vendor.
John Brooke, emeritus professor of science and religion at Oxford University, said the letter lends weight to the notion that ``Einstein was not a conventional theist" – although he was not an atheist, either.
"Like many great scientists of the past, he is rather quirky about religion, and not always consistent from one period to another," Brooke said.
Born to a Jewish family in Germany in 1879, Einstein said he went through a devout phase as a child before beginning to question conventional religion at the age of 12.
In later life, he expressed a sense of wonder at the universe and its mysteries – what he called a "cosmic religious feeling" – and famously said: "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
But, he also said: "I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil. My God created laws that take care of that. His universe is not ruled by wishful thinking, but by immutable laws."
Brooke said Einstein believed that "there is some kind of intelligence working its way through nature. But it is certainly not a conventional Christian or Judaic religious view."
Einstein's most famous legacy is the special theory of relativity, which makes the point that a large amount of energy could be released from a tiny amount of matter. The theory changed the face of physics, allowing scientists to make predictions about space and paving the way for nuclear power and the atomic bomb.
Einstein's musings on science, war, peace and God helped make him world famous, and his scientific legacy prompted Time magazine to name him its Person of the 20th Century.
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/424904
May 13, 2008
Jill Lawless
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON – A letter being auctioned in London this week is sure to add fuel to the long-simmering debate about the religious views of Albert Einstein.
In the note, written a year before his death, the Nobel prize-winning physicist dismisses the idea of God as the product of human weakness and the Bible as "pretty childish."
The letter, handwritten in German, is being sold by Bloomsbury Auctions on Thursday.
It is expected to fetch between $12,000 and $16,000.
Einstein, who helped unravel the mysteries of the universe with his theory of relativity often expressed complex and arguably contradictory views on faith.
He apparently perceived a universe suffused with spirituality while rejecting organized religion.
The letter up for sale, was written to philosopher Eric Gutkind in January 1954 and suggests that Einstein's view on religion did not mellow with age.
In it, Einstein said that "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."
"For me," he added, "the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions."
Addressing the idea that the Jews are God's chosen people, Einstein wrote that "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 also 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."
Bloomsbury spokesman Richard Caton said the auction house was ``100 per cent certain" of the letter's authenticity. It is being offered at auction for the first time, by a private vendor.
John Brooke, emeritus professor of science and religion at Oxford University, said the letter lends weight to the notion that ``Einstein was not a conventional theist" – although he was not an atheist, either.
"Like many great scientists of the past, he is rather quirky about religion, and not always consistent from one period to another," Brooke said.
Born to a Jewish family in Germany in 1879, Einstein said he went through a devout phase as a child before beginning to question conventional religion at the age of 12.
In later life, he expressed a sense of wonder at the universe and its mysteries – what he called a "cosmic religious feeling" – and famously said: "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
But, he also said: "I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil. My God created laws that take care of that. His universe is not ruled by wishful thinking, but by immutable laws."
Brooke said Einstein believed that "there is some kind of intelligence working its way through nature. But it is certainly not a conventional Christian or Judaic religious view."
Einstein's most famous legacy is the special theory of relativity, which makes the point that a large amount of energy could be released from a tiny amount of matter. The theory changed the face of physics, allowing scientists to make predictions about space and paving the way for nuclear power and the atomic bomb.
Einstein's musings on science, war, peace and God helped make him world famous, and his scientific legacy prompted Time magazine to name him its Person of the 20th Century.
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/424904
(used to help him with algebra.......He finally caught on. 
Maybe he was. He's dead now.
Steven Hawking's Tutor
Posts: 4,612
June 4th, 2008, 06:33 PM
What I've never understood about Al, was why after realizing the nature of humanity that he continued to work on the greatest instrument of terror that has ever existed! When Nobel was creating dynamite I'm sure he didn't forsee the world wars and if he had, is it the responsibility of the gifted and the intelligent to save humanity from themselves'?
What I've never understood about Al, was why after realizing the nature of humanity that he continued to work on the greatest instrument of terror that has ever existed! When Nobel was creating dynamite I'm sure he didn't forsee the world wars and if he had, is it the responsibility of the gifted and the intelligent to save humanity from themselves'?
Steven Hawking's Tutor
Posts: 4,612
June 4th, 2008, 06:41 PM
Handing razor blades to a child …..
In an interview shortly before his death in 1967 Oppenheimer spoke with philosophic melancholy of his first gut reaction to the atomic bomb. Besides the science, the math imagery, and satisfaction that the 1945 device had really worked as his team of scientists and military liaisons had struggled so long for, Oppenheimer also recalled the words of the Hindu god Vishnu as that god was trying to compel an earthly leader to follow his dictates. To intimidate the human,Vishnu re-formed himself into the visage of a huge multi-armed writhing figure, enormously immense beyond the scale of simple human proportions. "Now I am become Death", he told the human, "destroyer of worlds.".
Handing razor blades to a child …..
In an interview shortly before his death in 1967 Oppenheimer spoke with philosophic melancholy of his first gut reaction to the atomic bomb. Besides the science, the math imagery, and satisfaction that the 1945 device had really worked as his team of scientists and military liaisons had struggled so long for, Oppenheimer also recalled the words of the Hindu god Vishnu as that god was trying to compel an earthly leader to follow his dictates. To intimidate the human,Vishnu re-formed himself into the visage of a huge multi-armed writhing figure, enormously immense beyond the scale of simple human proportions. "Now I am become Death", he told the human, "destroyer of worlds.".
Time Out
Posts: 2,948
Videos: 3
Location: lincolnshire
Videos: 3
Location: lincolnshire
June 5th, 2008, 08:32 AM
Quote:
Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)- More quotations on: [God] [Equality]
Results from Laura Moncur's Motivational Quotations:
We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)Results from Classic Quotes:
At any rate, I am convinced that He [God] does not play dice.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), In a letter to Max Born, 1926- More quotations on: [God]
Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the Gods.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), (attributed)Results from Cole's Quotables:
We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)Results from Rand Lindsly's Quotations:
I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)Results from Poor Man's College:
My religion consists of a humble admiration of the unlimitable superior who reveals Himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)Results from Internet Collections: alt.quotations Archives:
"I want to know Gods thoughts.... all the rest are just details
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)Results from Contributed Quotations:
My sense of God is my sense of wonder about the Universe.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)
We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)God reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)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 (1879 - 1955), Letter, 24 March 1954. Quoted in "Albert Einstein: The Human Side," edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman
what Albert Einstein has said in relation to God
- Quotations by Subject: God (49 quotes)
Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)- More quotations on: [God] [Equality]
Results from Laura Moncur's Motivational Quotations:
We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)Results from Classic Quotes:
At any rate, I am convinced that He [God] does not play dice.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), In a letter to Max Born, 1926- More quotations on: [God]
Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the Gods.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), (attributed)Results from Cole's Quotables:
We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)Results from Rand Lindsly's Quotations:
I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)Results from Poor Man's College:
My religion consists of a humble admiration of the unlimitable superior who reveals Himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)Results from Internet Collections: alt.quotations Archives:
"I want to know Gods thoughts.... all the rest are just details
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)Results from Contributed Quotations:
My sense of God is my sense of wonder about the Universe.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)
We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)God reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)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 (1879 - 1955), Letter, 24 March 1954. Quoted in "Albert Einstein: The Human Side," edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman
jimmoyer
Posts: 5,040
Location: Winchester Virginia
Location: Winchester Virginia
June 5th, 2008, 09:05 AM
Think about this for a moment.
No inventor has ever known the ramifications of his/her invention.
No creator has ever known what far shore his ripples will reach.
Likewise any concept of a God, should teach us that no God can possibly know all the future results begetting more future results.
Has no God in all our many stories of different Gods not known angst ?
Think about this for a moment.
No inventor has ever known the ramifications of his/her invention.
No creator has ever known what far shore his ripples will reach.
Likewise any concept of a God, should teach us that no God can possibly know all the future results begetting more future results.
Has no God in all our many stories of different Gods not known angst ?
