Originally Posted By: socratus
... Einstein: Religion and Personal God.

Einstein had different opinions about Religion.

a)Sometime he thought that God is a Cosmic Universal Intellect.

b) Sometime he did not believe in a personal god.

c) Sometime he did believe in a personal god:

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Socratus, it is not surprising that Einstein, like most of us human beings (except me, of course wink ) was, also like most of us, the normal human and fallible kind of person, especially in matters having to do with philosophy, theology and the like.

And I would add: Like one of the threads in this forum suggests: Einstein was also fallible as a physicist and not without other faults.
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For what it is worth, and without going into details as to why I do, I offer the following belief: G0D is personal in and through us--when we choose to do--and actually do--what we sincerely feel is the good, true and the right thing to do. More on this in a future post.

Meanwhile, I know many are thinking:

O come now, Rev! Every tin pot tyrant--self-appointed (Hitler? Stalin? Franco? Peron?) and/or otherwise (Nixon? Bush?)--responsible for much pain, suffering and the deaths of any number of people often justify their actions by thinking--even believing and saying: I did it for the greatest good of our country, and for the best people in it. History will thank me for what I did. Some will say: I did what I did because, after much prayer, God gave me his guidance and the power to win a victory for him (Cromwell?). Yes, I know this.

I also know that many dictators, like Franco, Stalin and Mao, actually lived long and prosperous lives. They died at home and were honoured and loved by many. not all tyrants ended their lives the way Napoleon, Hitler and the like did, in ignomy.

On the other hand, there were those like Lincoln, the Kennedys, Gandhi and others, who were cut down by the bullets of assassins long before their time.

I ALSO AGREE, LIFE AS WE KNOW IT, DOES NOT ALWAYS SEEM TO BE FAIR, not just for the famous, but for many ordinary people as well.

For example, I am the seventh child of a family of eight--five boys and three girls. Now, my younger sister and I are the last in the family. At the time of our birth, our father was in his 50's and our mother was in her late 40's. This meant that there was a ten-year gap between us and our next older brother.

He and all the older siblings of my sister and I are now gone. All of them, including our parents, suffered from a real lack of education. Looking back I now realize that they had a standard of living which was way below what my sister and I have enjoyed. The same was, and still is, true for many. Life is not fair, it just is. I often ask myself, why is this so?

It is no wonder that, life being what it is, both on a general level and on the local, has caused many people over the years to opt for atheism.

Obviously a strong belief in the existence of the kind of all-powerful, father-like and and loving 'god' of monotheism--a god who personally hears and answers all our prayers--is becoming more and more difficult a concept for modern minds to accept.

Sure, I respect the sincerely held opinions and beliefs of others, especially the opinions of those who value the common good. I also include the right to change ones mind. I give this right to others and I expect others to give me the same right.

Socratus, thanks for bringing all this information--conflicts and all-- together.
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From the Book: "Ideas and opinions by Albert Einstein"
Edited by Carl Seeling. 1996. Part: About religion.

Page 46.

“The situation may be expressed by an image:
Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. Though I have asserted above that in truth a legitimate conflict between religion and science cannot exist."

Would that this was always true. But of course we know that, alas, because too often there is such a thing as blind faith and the uncharitable use of scientific knowledge conflicts do exist.

But, as the poet Alexander Pope put it in his poem, Essay on Man:

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never Is, but always To be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

An Essay on Man, Epistle I, 1733
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Of course the kind of lively hope we all need is not the false and shallow kind, but one that is grounded in a rational faith. Most of all, we need a hope based on a non-sentimental kind of agape-love--one that is patient, kind, true and enduring.



Last edited by Revlgking; 01/02/11 05:56 AM.

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