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It’s interesting to me that saying anything remotely positive about religion brings accusations of “apologist!” or “idiot!”. So was Einstein an idiot?

From Wikipedia:
According to biographer Walter Isaacson, Einstein was more inclined to denigrate atheists than religious people.

Einstein said in correspondence, "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 the traditional 'opium of the people'—cannot hear the music of the spheres."

Although he did not believe in a personal God, he indicated that he would never seek to combat such belief because "such a belief seems to me preferable to the lack of any transcendental outlook."

“A person who is religiously enlightened appears to me to be one who has, to the best of his ability, liberated himself from the fetters of his selfish desires and is preoccupied with thoughts, feelings and aspirations to which he clings because of their super-personal value. It seems to me that what is important is the force of this superpersonal content ... regardless of whether any attempt is made to unite this content with a Divine Being, for otherwise it would not be possible to count Buddha and Spinoza as religious personalities.”

“Accordingly a religious person is devout in the sense that he has no doubt of the significance of those super-personal objects and goals which neither require nor are capable of rational foundation ...In this sense religion is the age-old endeavor of mankind to become clearly and completely conscious of these values and goals and constantly to strengthen and extend their effect. If one conceives of religion and science according to these definitions then a conflict between them appears impossible. For science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be...”
[en.m.wikipedia.org]

skado 9 July 20
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31 comments (26 - 31)

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One should ALWAYS try to remember that even in the days of the likes of Einstein the pressures of religions upon the individuals were still very great and immense, thus those like Einstein would have had to 'side' in some way, shape and form with the religious doctrines at the time or be ostracized.
For example, when the Frenchman ( cannot quite remember how his name was spelled at the moment) announced that he had found the key to unlock the Rosetta Stone and translate Egyptian Hieroglyphs, he was threatened by the Catholic Church with Ex-communication for his ENTIRE family IF he should reveal ANYTHING that contradicted the Teachings/Doctrines of the Church.
Thankfully, at present at least, those adverse pressures of religions have lessened quite a bit these days.

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Einstein became the head of a relativity church which claimed to respect mathematics while it actually trampled all over it by tolerating contradictions. Such an irrational person's view of atheists is worth no more than that of any other Holy man.

I would love to learn more about that but a cursory search doesn’t turn up much that is obviously related. Where could I find more info about that church?

They don't call themselves a church, so you won't find them advertising themselves as such, but that's what they actually are. They think of themselves as the physics establishment and they systematically ridicule anyone who points out that their STR and GTR models are broken: when they simulate them they have to cheat by including components that are explicitly banned in the models in order to provide the illusion of correct functionality.

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Im an agnostic.. so....

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He was brilliant and questioned much science has much to learn about the universe and quantum mechanics too much is unknown for any assumptions except for a supreme diety nothing there

bobwjr Level 10 July 20, 2019
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People suck. Anyone who thinks engaging in theism is suckier than not, is a fool. All people suck.

yep, pretty sure we have all been assholes at different times in our life. People suck and are resilient and loving and selfish and blind and often want to be right more than to be happy

@gigihein especially they'd rather be righter than everyone else, no matter who is happy

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According to the Biographaphical tv Series by Ron Howard that aired on History Channel a year ago Einstein, who was Jewish, had no thoughts of religion until Hitler came for the Jews and he desperately tried to get into the United States which was a major effort.

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