Reactions to story from The Blog - The Huffington Post

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  God, Einstein, and I quote...

  http://idonethunk.blogspot.com/2008/05/god-einstein-and-i-qu...
  146 days ago in I done thunk · Authority: 6

  Warriors, both of science and of faith, have for years played a tug-of-war for the heart and soul of Albert Einstein. We all knew from early on that his mind belonged to science, but what of his true essence, his belief in something grander than the playground that is our cosmos.Currently, there is an auction making some noise in the halls of science and cheering up its atheist practitioners. The auction is of a personal letter Albert Eistein wrote in 1954 (one year prior to his passing) that "unequivocally" states his disbelief in God.Dr. EInstein writes, "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."He also goes on to say in the letter written to the philosopher Eric Gutkind,"No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."Frankly, I don't see this "new" letter to be revealing anything we didn't already know about our quotable pal, Einstein. Einstein made it clear on several occasions that he did not ascribe to the Abrahamic concept of God, most famously in his "Spinoza" quote,"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."Einstein, in addition to his brilliant observations in physics, also made some profound philosophical observations. It is these more romantic and social leanings which often places Einstein in the middle of this battle of beliefs. Einstein once famously stated, "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."Then there is his most confusing quote about God,"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."However, my favorite Einstein quote, which not only establishes his disbelief in an Abrahamic God, but also distances himself from the rhetoric of hardcore atheists is this one,"I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one, 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.To me, this quote is the essence of Einstein - a respect and humility for human kind and an understanding that our knowledge of nature, its order and the further discoveries that await us, are what give rise to passionate living.Truthfully, I hope everyone stops quoting Albert Einstein after this auction. It's time we took the question of "consciousness survival" out of the hands of scientists, and put it back into the hands of science.Read more on the auction of Albert Einstein's letter
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  Einstein Letter: Belief In God "Childish," Jews Not Chosen People

  http://blog.votebankaccount.com/2008/06/18/autosaved-31712-p...
  111 days ago in Neo Thoughts · No authority yet

  Hello all, I think it's time that the intelligent people of this world stop the insanity. Below are some things to consider. If there is no God, there are no Muslims, there are no Jews, there are no Christians. Which leads to an entire different set of conclusions, including, we are all just Earth People, who need to get along and help one another. Knowledge breeds knowledge. Pass it on. Knowledge is multiplicative. Multiply it. Marjie Proving that the Bible is repulsive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkXOwBIRX7Y&feature=related Why god won't heal amputees? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3VAEYEG53w Proving that nobody can get into heaven http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzzORZhnCao&NR=1 Penn & Teller; The Bible is Bullshit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RV46fsmx6E&NR=1 pasted from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/14/einstein-letter-belief-in_n_101626.html Einstein Letter: Belief In God "Childish," Jews Not Chosen People AFP | May 14, 2008 01:23 AM Read More: Albert Einstein, Albert Einstein Letter God Childish, Einstein God, Einstein God Childish, Einstein Jews Chosen People, Einstein Letter, God, Religion, Politics News Albert Einstein described belief in God as "childish superstition" and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London this week, an auctioneer said Tuesday. The father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the comments in response to a philosopher in 1954. As a Jew himself, Einstein said he had a great affinity with Jewish people but said they "have no different quality for me than all other people". "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," he wrote in the letter written on January 3, 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, cited by The Guardian newspaper. The German-language letter is being sold Thursday by Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, said the auction house's managing director Rupert Powell. In it, the renowned scientist, who declined an invitation to become Israel's second president, rejected the idea that the Jews are God's chosen people. "For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions," he said. "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." And he added: "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." Previously the great scientist's comments on religion -- such as "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind" -- have been the subject of much debate, used notably to back up arguments in favour of faith. Powell said the letter being sold this week gave a clear reflection of Einstein's real thoughts on the subject. "He's fairly unequivocal as to what he's saying. There's no beating about the bush," he told AFP.
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  Randomness from the week or so that was

  http://msclarke.blogspot.com/2008/05/randomness-from-week-or...
  108 days ago in The Nonsensical Ravings of a Lunatic Mind · Authority: 1

  Randomness from the week or so that was Happy holiday weekend, peeps. It's early on the Memorial Day Weekend, and I've already cleaned the homestead, walked a couple of miles and finally caught up on on all the electronic and snail mail from my few days Out Of Town. Expect some frequent bloggy goodness over the holiday. As I quaff the first of many light beers, here are some random nuggets to chew on: Controversial comic book costume changes. I liked the "Venom" black Spidey uniform (except for how it was presented, story-wise, in the disappointing 3rd movie) and Iron Man's is understandable, with so many "Mark" versions. (For a great graphic look at the various Iron Man unis, click here). And I just saw Iron Man, and it rocked my world. GREAT comic book movie. The final throw down was a bit pedestrian, but fantastic performances from all involved (RD Jr., The Dude, Gwyneth, Terrance Howard) made this a solid A. But Sue Storm's alternate costume is kinda trampy, no? Good news for fans of Logan, Goran and their partners: USA has ordered more Law & Order: CI. No wonder the country is going to hell on a sled. 12.5% of those teaching our (your) youth are morons. Speaking of which, more evidence (like you needed more?) that Einstein was a smart dude. It's baseball season. Time to enjoy some classic Ricky Henderson quotes! A bizarre list of "How To" books. I think I would start with #9, and #10 would be helpful with #5 (though #2 would have probably preceded that one), but you would then be acquainted with #7, and eventually wish for #4. Ever heard of "Batting Stance Guy?" If not, check out this interview. And you fellow Braves fans will get a big kick out his take on the hometeam. You gotta have priorities, ya know. Bobby Cox is an icon and steady hand on the wheel of the Braves, but good god, I love Jim Leyland. What kind of bet do you have to lose to have this happen? And Flipper looks stoked, man. Lord knows I lived through the title of this post. But DListed's adorable nickname for the featured Mensa member always makes me giggle, for a few reasons. Speaking of which, I'm surprised I didn't pay to have these moved. But some other poor (or soon to be) dumb bastard did. How 'bout we cleanse the pallet with a nice story about everyone's favorite lesbian witch and shopping-addicted wife? And since it's the last day of the workweek, here's a Trek look at the 7 types of bad bosses and how to survive them. Enjoy your holiday, and have a beer or 15 with a loved one! Posted by Shan
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  Einstein on God

  http://sujaiblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/einstein-on-god.html
  140 days ago in E=mc^2 · Authority: 22

  For many years, many theists and religious people have used some of the statements from Albert Einstein to demonstrate that he was a religious man, or that he believed in a personal God, or that he was ambivalent about belief in God, and so on. The religious people fought a long battle, citing many of his remarks, sometimes giving quite childish interpretations and conclusions to prove that Einstein believed in a religious God. “God does not play dice with the universe” For example, his famous quote, “God does not play dice with the universe” is wrongly interpreted as confession of his belief in God. One just cannot make such a direct conclusion. Many atheists refer to 'God' in their day-to-day speech. That does NOT necessarily mean they believe in a personal or religious God. The figure of speech using ‘God’ could mean differently in different contexts for different people, including atheists. But to conclude that Einstein was a believer from the above quotation is quite far fetched. To understand why he said what he said, one has to know the context. For eons, many cultures believed that God worked the laws of nature. (Biblical God has even created the nature with his hands, not necessarily abiding with laws of nature.) When Newton proposed Universal Theory of Gravitation thus setting the stage for Classical Physics, it was understood that the entire Universe was based on few well-understood laws of Physics making the universe and its workings deterministic. That means, if you knew the position of a planet at this moment, and know its interactions with the environment, we can predict its position at any time in future. If there is an error in calculation, it’s only because all the factors in the environment that influence its behavior are not clearly stated. So, the problem is with the guy calculating the position of this planet, not with the universal laws of nature. So, if we are not able to predict future, it’s only because we don’t have the complete knowledge of all the factors affecting that future. But theoretically, if we knew all the factors, we can predict the future absolutely without any error. That was the understanding under Classical Physics. Then came Quantum Physics! It told us that nature was NOT deterministic. That it was not possible to predict the future. That unpredictability and probability are inherent part of this Universe. That even if you knew all the factors in the environment absolutely, you would still NOT be able to predict the future. That the outcome of events is probabilistic! That the God played dice with universe! Even Einstein, the greatest thinker of our time, could not reconcile himself to this reality. When he got to know how Quantum Physics worked, he could not believe it and uttered the now famous quote – ‘God does not play dice with Universe’. Later on, with more understanding of this new and revolutionary physics, he has accepted Quantum Physics, and became a champion of it. He went onto accept that God does indeed play dice with the universe. For him and everyone who knows the context, using God was a figure of speech. It does not speak of religion or belief in supernatural being who watches over us. Science without religion is lame Another famous quote which is often cited to say that Einstein approved of religion is – “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” Many people used this quotation to say that religion was equally important to Einstein as much as Science. This philosophical and sociological statement only promotes harmony between the factions, but does not tell much about Einstein’s religious attitudes. However, many religious people have used this quotation to prove that Einstein believed in God and that he approved of mainstream religion. Then came the final quote to put an end to all this debate. “God is nothing more than the expression and product of human weakness” In a letter to philosopher Eric Gutkind, Einstein wrote: “The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses.” And about Bible, he said: “[it is] a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.” About Judaism, he said: “For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions.” About Jews, he said: “I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them.” Conclusion Einstein grew up in an environment where religion was extremely important. Though Einstein confessed that he ‘lost his religion’ at the age of 12, calling religion ‘a lie’, he remained slightly ambivalent when it came to the role of religion in society. His ideas on his personal god were closer to atheists, though he maintained respect for the necessity of religion. His religion, if one can use that terminology, is captured more by his awe of the universe than the anthropomorphic God of the West or the human interventionist God of the East. To this effect, he said, “The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is its comprehensibility.” But in no way he was a religious man as people describe their religions, and no way he was a believer in personal god as people define their gods. At the same time, Einstein did not think he was an atheist. Some people categorize him as a deist - someone who does not believe in a personal god, or a religious god, but who believes that there is something more to this universe which is beyond human comprehension - but there is no room for miracles, prophecies or 'chosen people'.
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  Einstein Letter: Belief in God “Childish”

  http://www.fractallywrong.com/?p=84
  144 days ago in Fractally Wrong · Authority: 3

  I first read this a few days ago and attempted to post it to the site from work via my iPod Touch, but it didn’t work out so well. So I’m getting around to it now. If there were any questions as to what Einstein believed, or rather, didn’t believe, this letter seems to clear it up. Albert Einstein described belief in God as “childish superstition” and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London this week, an auctioneer said Tuesday. The father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the comments in response to a philosopher in 1954. As a Jew himself, Einstein said he had a great affinity with Jewish people but said they “have no different quality for me than all other people”. “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,” he wrote in the letter written on January 3, 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, cited by The Guardian newspaper. The German-language letter is being sold Thursday by Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, said the auction house’s managing director Rupert Powell. Huffington Post
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  Einstein Letter: Belief In God "Childish," Jews Not Chosen People

  http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=51843
  145 days ago in BuzzFlash.net - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash · No authority yet

  Albert Einstein described belief in God as "childish superstition" and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London this week, an auctioneer said Tuesday. » original news

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