Einstein on God and religion.

[laconicsax]

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/10/word-god-is-product-of-human-weakness.html

The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still purely primitive, legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this...For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstition.

[harry_pothead]

1. Albert Einstein was dead on.

[classysassy]

3. The gnashing of teeth

[jeffbr]

2. but but but God is smarter than Einstein

dontcha no

[classysassy]

4. Please God forgive them.

for they know not what they do.

[darkstar3]

10. I'm curious.

What point are you trying to make here?

[tridim]

5. "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds"

I have that one hanging on my office wall.

[Silent3]

8. Unfortunately a lot of mediocre and sub-mediocre minds take that quote to heart...

...believing that opposition to their own stupidity is proof of their "great spirit".

[gblady]

6. my favorite Albert quotes....

"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind."

"I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

"The only real valuable thing is intuition."

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

[Why Syzygy]

15. The quote selected by the OP misrepresents

Einstein's spirituality.

[darkstar3]

18. And how is that?

[azul]

7. Children behave!

The voice of authority for grown-ups is mysteriously lacking: silence.

[DeSwiss]

9. .....

"There is no such thing as darkness, only the absence of light. No such thing as cold,
only the absence of heat. No such thing as evil, only the absence of good." ~ Albert Einstein

- K&R

[Jim__]

11. The most beautiful and most profound experience is the sensation of the mystical.

The most beautiful and most profound experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.

[ZombieHorde]

12. My favorite Einstein quotes...

"Excuse me, I have to use the restroom."

"Are you going to eat that baby?"

"I will cut your ass with a rusty knife mother fucker."

[laconicsax]

13. That last one is falsely attributed.

It's a common misconception, but that quote is actually an invention by Niels Bohr.

[ZombieHorde]

14. Oh, my bad. Easy mistake. nt

[DeSwiss]

16. And here all this time I thought it was Heisenberg.....

- Hmmm..... anyways here one more:

"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary.
Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." ~ Albert Einstein

[rd_kent]

17. Could not have been said better!

[Taitertots]

19. What Einstein thinks about it is irrelevant

Einstein was a brilliant physicist and a brilliant thinker.

In a position to make positive statements about the existence of god, not so much. This is coming from an atheist who agrees with the quote.

You wouldn't ask Einstein about advice on lobster bisque, you shouldn't ask him about god.

[laconicsax]

20. Who then, in your opinion, is qualified?

Are only professional clergy and theologians in a position to make positive statements about the existence of a god or is this a double standard that invokes the Courtier's Reply?