Einstein on God
“From the viewpoint of a Jesuit priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist…. I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, 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 being.”
–Albert Einstein, Skeptically.org
3 comments
Yup, that pretty much means I’m an Atheist…er…AND Agnostic. Why couldn’t this dude have figured EVERYthing out? D’oh.
One of the funniest things about reading up on early Christian history is that Christians were accused of being atheists by the Roman government, because they wouldn’t worship the official state gods. I think our modern definitions of atheism and agnosticism are definitely more helpful than the older ones.
\”The fanatical atheists are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle. They are creatures who – in their grudge against traditional religion as the \’opium of the masses\’ – cannot hear the music of the spheres.\” –Albert Einstein
I\’m afraid all walks of academia are plagued with the fanatical atheists; sadly, it is fashionable to be one and deplorable to be otherwise.