Just let Einstein speak for himself
Christian creationists are often very eager to claim the great thinkers of our time for themselves. They think that, if someone is both intelligent and Christian, it not only lends credence to religion, but it also implies that Christianity has something to do with intelligence. XKCD made a wonderful comic about the notion that “correllation implies causation“, which is the same mistake which can be seen made by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron in this video:
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At first glance, it might seen that not only was Einstein not an atheist, but he was also a devout Christian who believed in a personal God. However, you’ll know more about Einstein from the quotes they didn’t read, including his famous one where he directly and explicitly denies a belief in a personal god:
“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, letter to an atheist (1954), quoted in Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas & Banesh Hoffman
So, in Einstein’s own words, he expressly denies belief in the same god as Comfort and Cameron, which they so insidously implied he did believe in. Make no mistake, the quotes chosen for this video were carefully picked for maximum implication that Einstein was a religious theist. Here are some more of Einstein’s own words, refuting much of what Ray and Kirk want you to think:
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.
Letter to philosopher Eric Gutkind, January 3, 1954
During the youthful period of mankind’s spiritual evolution, human fantasy created gods in man’s own image who, by the operations of their will were supposed to determine, or at any rate influence, the phenomenal world.
Albert Einstein, quoted in: 2000 Years of Disbelief, James Haught
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 own being.
Albert Einstein to Guy H. Raner Jr., Sept. 28, 1949, quoted by Michael R. Gilmore in Skeptic magazine, Vol. 5, No. 2
…I can keep quoting him, if you want. However, five seconds worth of Googling will give you multiple results, all of which show us the same thing:
Einstein had so much more to say about God and religion than Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron want you to know about.
Albert Einstein may not have been an atheist, but he definitely wasn’t what this video portrays him as either.
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