Einstein on God

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEK6WtHxNfw&NR=1"]Einstein on God - YouTube[/ame]

I have heard Einstein's quots repeated again and again and again regarding his supposed belief in god. Usually these quotes are posted from intellectually dishonest religious arguments as an argument for god (appeal to authority, a fallacy).

So, I actually stumbled across this on YouTube this morning, comment from Einstein as well as Hawking concerning their dishonestly quoted belief in a theistic power.

 

Great video.

Next up: the myth that our fouding fathers were christians.

 

All scientists will go to hell.

 

So scientists end up in your imagination? Interesting.

 

I tend to agree. The scientists who look for cure to disease will go to hell.

The faith healers who starve their children to death will almost certainly go to heaven.

 

Having people claim Einstein as their own, whether they be atheist or theist, is like Hollywood stars testifying before Congress. Essentially, you respect a man due to his knowledge/fame and then expect them to be experts about everything else I suppose.

 

Einstein was a theist who admired Jesus.

From an interview with Einstein:

"To what extent are you influenced by Christianity?"

"As a child, I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene."

"Have you read Emil Ludwig's book on Jesus?

"Emil Ludwig's Jesus," replied Einstein, "is shallow. Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrasemongers, however artful. No man can dispose of Christianity with a bon mot."

"You accept the historical existence of Jesus?"

"Unquestionably. No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. How different, for instance, is the impression which we receive from an account of legendary heroes of antiquity like Theseus. Theseus and other heroes of his type lack the authentic vitality of Jesus."

"Ludwig Lewisohn, in one of his recent books, claims that many of the sayings of Jesus paraphrase the sayings of other prophets."

"No man," Einstein replied, "can deny the fact that Jesus existed, nor that his sayings are beautiful. Even if some them have been said before, no one has expressed them so divinely as he."

quote from Einstein: You find it strange that I consider the comprehensibility of the world (to the extent that we are authorized to speak of such a comprehensibility) as a miracle or an eternal mystery. Well a priori one should expect a chaotic world which cannot be grasped by the mind in anyway. One could (yes one should) expect the world to be subjected to law only to the extent that we order it through our intelligence. Ordering of this kind would be like the alphabetical ordering of the words of a language. By contrast, the kind of order created by Newton's theory of gravitation, for instance, is wholly different. Even if the axioms of the theory are proposed by man, the success of such a project presupposes a high degree of ordering of the objective world, and this could not be expected a priori. That is the "miracle" which is being constantly re-enforced as our knowledge expands.

quote: In view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human understanding, 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.

quote: I consider the Society of Friends the religious community which has the highest moral standards. As far as I know, they have never made evil compromises and are always guided by their conscience. In international life, especially, their influence seems to me very beneficial and effective.

quote: “Being a lover of freedom, when the Nazi Revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, but the universities were immediately silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers, but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks. Then I looked to individual writers... they too were mute. Only the Church,” Einstein concluded, “stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing the truth... I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel great affection and admiration... and am forced thus to confess that what I once despised, I now praise unreservedly.”

quote: “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”

 

He may have admired Jesus, but that doesn't make him a theist.

Watch the video.

 

We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality. (Albert Einstein)

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the Gods. (Albert Einstein)

When the solution is simple, God is answering. (Albert Einstein)

Does that sound like anything an atheist would ever say? Does the fact that Einsteins well known views on religion, his belief in a diety and struggle, given his vast knoweldge and understanding of the universe, that such a Creator could care about something so small in a universe so vast - troubled him deeply. (We religious folks think that is a perfect demonstration of just how much God love you though ....)

So a couple of repeated themes that come from threads such as these:

1. Do atheists really think that You Tube is a source of scholarly study? Isn't this the same source where you can find whacked out conspiracy theory like 9-11?

2. Why is there such a strong need by atheists to misrepresent things? Neither Einstein nor Jefferson, certain non-traditional deists, would qualify as atheists. That does not prevent one atheist after another from using them as some type of hero - as if being smart means they are atheist ...

And, at this point I do have to again point out that stretches made to include Eistein as an atheist, also make a lot of nasty people atheists:


Catholic 29,267 31.432%
Protestant 26,162 28.097%
None/Atheist/Unknown 18,537 19.908%Muslim 5,435 5.837%
American Indian 2,408 2.586%
Nation of Islam 1,734 1.862%
Rastafarian 1,485 1.595%
Jewish 1,325 1.423%
Church of Christ 1,303 1.399%
Pentecostal 1,093 1.174%
Moorish 1,066 1.145%
Buddhist 882 0.947%
Jehovah's Witnesses 665 0.714%
Adventist 621 0.667%
Eastern Orthodox 375 0.403%
Latter-day Saints 298 0.320%
Scientology 190 0.204%
Hindu 119 0.128%
Santeria 117 0.126%
Sikh 14 0.015%
Baha'i 9 0.010%
ISKCON 7 0.008%
-------------------- ------ --------
Total 93,112 100.000%

http://www.adherents.com/misc/adh_prison.html

Which seems off goven the repeated claim that atheism is JUST the belief in no God, but atheists will still claim a rate of Atheist 0.209% incarceration by excluding all people who do not jump up and down and scream that they are atheists. Which has interesting implication on whether or not Einsetin should be considered an atheist?

3. Do we understand why people think atheists use double standards? Why people think that atheists focus on the faults of others and never themselves? Anyone who is smart can be 'made' atheist, even if they clearly are not atheist. Any atheist, if he's bad enough, can be simply ignored and not counted as atheist.

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/edgell/home/Strib Atheist Faith and Values.html

Do we understand how the continual use of literally the same propoganda from atheism is causing people to lose trust in atheist as anything other than fault finding at any cost?

 

Many individual atheists and many individual atheists are guilty of trying to misrepresent things. Making absolute or blanket statements about atheists is no more accurate or honest than making blanket or absolute statements about theists. Evidence exists that both theists and atheists have tried to differential portray Einsteins religious beliefs in a manner that is consistent with their own.

 

Would a youtube video do for rebuttle ?

By the way, was that Richard dawkins narrating ?

 

Hmm...where does this 'information' come from or is this just another unfounded claim, aimed to generate negative sentiments against atheists?

Btw, atheism is defined as the lack of belief in god(s), that's the one thing all atheists have in common.... but this has been pointed out for more than ayear now in every thread this is brought up!

No, we do not understand, nor do we understand why certain people insist on spreading these malicious generalisation against better knowledge.

 

While I enjoyed the conspiracy theory; it does nothing to address Einstein's pantheism.

Also, it's not simply a YouTube video, that is Dawkins narration from a British documentary.

 

Yes and yes:

 

OK .. that was more of a rhetorical question (the first one) to show that two people in a youtube video not giving sources is no better than someone on this site not giving up his/her source.

But here .. (I don't like or agree with the implications of the title of this video so please excuse that)



[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xmYKFLD1NQ"]Einstein wasn't stupid, he believed in God - YouTube[/ame]

 

There is no one in this thread attempting to inaccurately portray Einstein as a theist. THe simple fact of the matter is that he was. If we were to do things other than watch You Tube for our scholarly pursuits, we would know this.

That does not prevent MANY atheists, and indeed MANY ATHEIST ORGANIZATIONS, from fousting the drivel that Einstein was atheist.

Finally, the fact that someone else, somewhere, did it, does not excuse instances where it does happen. If someone were saying that Chris Hitchens was actually a Muslim, I am sure atheists would be in a self-righteous uproar bemoaning the stupidity of religion and its brain washing ....

When the tables are turned? A different standard. See that a lot down here.

 

That is still not scholarship - its propoganda.

You are aware that Dawkins is not noted for his historical accuracy?

The sources listed, that you have ignored once again (what a shock) are the raw materials of atheist data and are direct claims from Einstein.

Einstein was not an atheist. You will just have to deal with that.

 

Which god(s) did he believe in?

The Christian GOD, perhaps? lol

 

Maybe you should read teh source and answer your own question? Each data point in the source is listed out and explained. Of course, that assumes taht we are seeking truth and not returning just to slam people and call it debate?

Good to see laziness remains a favorite tactic of atheists. As noted, any old excuse will be used to ignore anything an atheist wants, and then, of course, the person must be the fault. Because everything in atheism is about putting others down. Facts? Data? Too lazy to even look. But take their positions seriously.

 

Maybe you should do the reasearch and find out. Thanks for flame baiting again though.

 

What about his pantheism ? He said he didn't think he could call himself a pantheist ..

...and "Dawkins narration" does not help in this case, unless you want a known bias narration.

I accept Dawkins scientific contribution but not his personal agenda.

 

Neither of the links support the spurious claims and rhetoric you followed them with - perhaps you should read them more carefully before accusing others of not being interested in the truth...

Perhaps that would result in a more convincing argument than the usual negative remarks and unsupported accusations against atheism and
snide remarks and veiled insults against individual atheists.

BTW, anyone who watched the OP video knows that Einstein's understanding of god and religion is lightyears removed from the personalised monotheism some folks stubbornly like to compare it with.

 

Agh, so you did not read them. Gottcha. This is not about evidence or even discussion, it is about flaming Christians, your usual MO.

I am glad that you too, in order to exercise the anger in your claims, are now asking that you tube videos be taken over actual sources of data and scholarship.

That is indeed atheism, and it is exactly the hypocrisy that was pointed out - Einstein is an atheist hero .... if only we ignore everything he said about God, or even make (*)(*)(*)(*) up like people thinking a Jewish man is actually Christian.

We call this trolling, not intellectualism, debate, or scholarship, and it is the hall mark of modern atheism - in fact, its all they got.

 

Banana Man?

C'mon dude, I except better from you.

 

lol