Einstein- Theist or Atheist?

[Rainbow Mage]

I ask because I've seen some say Einstein was an Atheist, and of course it's well known he was a Pantheist. So which one is it?

 

[tumbleweed41]

Deist

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I have no idea. You'd have to ask him.

 

[Willamena]

I ask because I've seen some say Einstein was an Atheist, and of course it's well known he was a Pantheist. So which one is it?

Could, like so many other people, be both.

 

[Rainbow Mage]

Deist

Yes I can see that as well.

 

[Quagmire]

Einstein quotes on God(s)


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

"I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice."

"God is subtle but he is not malicious."

"God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically."

"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."

"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."

"Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish".

"God always takes the simplest way".

"Morality is of the highest importance - but for us, not for God".

"When the solution is simple, God is answering".

"That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God".

"After a lifetime of exhaustive inquiry into the true nature of the Universe and Reality, I can no longer harbor any reasonable doubts that all the available evidence points invariably and undeniably towards a conclusion that perfectly parallels my initial intuitive reaction to the question of divinity: mainly, that Quagmire is God".

 

[Sunstone]

Einstein's god was not the god of most theists.

 

[ImmortalFlame]

“It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.”
- Albert Einstein

 

[rojse]

Who cares?

 

[Storm]

“It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.”

Which doesn't exclude pantheism.

However, he did at one point say "I don't know that I can call myself a pantheist." At another, when asked if he believed in God, he said "Yes, Spinoza's God," which would make him a pantheist.

It's possible he changed his mind at some point (I'd be interested to learn when and which way), or perhaps he wasn't sure himself.

It's a stumper.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

I ask because I've seen some say Einstein was an Atheist, and of course it's well known he was a Pantheist. So which one is it?

Since Einstein said he was a pantheist we should take him at his word.

 

[Storm]

Bump for renewed interest.

 

[dogsgod]

In one narrow sense of the meaning he may have been.



Pantheist

: a doctrine that equates God with the forces and laws of the universe

merriam webster

 

[Storm]

In one narrow sense of the meaning he may have been.



Pantheist

: a doctrine that equates God with the forces and laws of the universe

merriam webster

I don't know that I would call it narrow, or to be more precise, "sexed-up atheism." As the collection of quotes Quag posted show, he clearly had religious sensibilities, for lack of a better term.

 

[dogsgod]

I don't know that I would call it narrow, or to be more precise, "sexed-up atheism." As the collection of quotes Quag posted show, he clearly had religious sensibilities, for lack of a better term.

Some of those quotes are of a dubious origin.

I call it narrow in definition in that if he was a pantheist it was in terms of being restricted to that one narrow definition as opposed to the wider range of definitions attributed to pantheism.


The following is from a well documented letter:

“It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.”
- Albert Einstein

In that sense, virtually anyone is religious.

 

[Storm]

Some of those quotes are of a dubious origin.

Such as?

I call it narrow in definition in that if he was a pantheist it was in terms of being restricted to that one narrow definition as opposed to the wider range of definitions attributed to pantheism.

I just don't think that's a justifiable position. Which is not to say "you're wrong!" Maybe you're right, but there's some doubt.

The following is from a well documented letter:

“It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.”
- Albert Einstein

Yes, a PERSONAL God. He's quite specific, and doesn't exclude pantheism.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Einstein, from what I had gathered, has clearly indicated that he did not believe in any type of personal god, but rather of that which coincides with the philosophical view of Baruch Spinoza to which Pantheism seems to be a apropos description to me as well. Yet to put it a bit more accurately, that what is called Naturalistic Pantheism.

 

[gnostic]

Einstein is a secret Teletubby.



If you seen him without his shirt on, you'll see that he has no belly button. Instead, he has a television screen on his belly. :cover:

 

[gnostic]

"After a lifetime of exhaustive inquiry into the true nature of the Universe and Reality, I can no longer harbor any reasonable doubts that all the available evidence points invariably and undeniably towards a conclusion that perfectly parallels my initial intuitive reaction to the question of divinity: mainly, that Quagmire is God".

:bow::bow::bow::bow::bow:

"Praise the Quagmire, praise the God!" :jiggy:

 

[Tathagata]

There should be no question as to what Einstein was. Einstein clearly and explicitly stated that he believes in Spinoza's God which is Pantheism.


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