OK, So They Got It Wrong!
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- Dan_Ellsworth
- GeraldS_2
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» Dan_Ellsworth - This </font> is making me feel small. <i>Dan Ellsworth (<a hr
This is making me feel small.Dan Ellsworth (e-mail, bio), Editor, "Christianity - Protestant"
-- posted by Dan_Ellsworth
» GeraldS_2 - Daniel, that oft quoted sentence is used by religionists to ascr
Daniel, that oft quoted sentence is used by religionists to ascribe to Einstein a belief in God. Another is "God is subtle but malicious He is not". But it is evident that while he felt an awe and reverence in contemplating nature and the universe, he subscribed to no religious doctrine as commonly taught.Einstein "The World As I See It".
"Ever since he had been thrust into the limelight his views on religion had been sought not only by the press, but by friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. Ernest Straus, who worked with him in Princeton, quoted him in the Encyclopedia Americana as describing religious thought as 'as an attempt to find an out where there is no door.'
"His friend Max Born observed that 'he had no belief in the Church, but did not think that religious faith was a sign of stupidity, nor unbelief a sign of intelligence.' There was a whiff of wishful thinking in some of the views credited to him. Thus Ben-Gurion, asked if he believed in God, replied, 'I once talked to Einstein. Even he, with his great formula about energy and mass, agreed that there must be something behind the energy.' And Prince Hubertus of Lowenstein reports him as saying, 'In view of such harmony in the cosmos which I with my limited mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what really makes me angry is that they quote me for support of such views.'
"Maybe. To some extent the differences between Einstein and more conventional believers were semantic, a point brought out in his 'Religion and Science' which on Sunday, November 9, occupied the entire first page of the New York Times Magazine, 'Everything that men do or think,' it began, 'concerns the satisfaction of the needs they feel or the escape from pain.' Einstein then went on to outline three states of religious development, starting with the religion of fear that moved primitive peoples, and which in due course became the moral religion whose driving force was social feelings. This in turn could become the 'cosmic religious sense' ...which recognizes neither dogma nor God made in man's image.' And he then put the key to his ideas in two sentences, 'I assert that the cosmic religious experience is the strongest and noblest driving force behind scientific research'. And as a corollary, 'the only deeply religious people of our largely materialistic age are the earnest men of research.'
".......'an impersonal God, a deterministic universe, a churchless religion, disregard of money and material gains, world government, pacifism, and socialism--all of these are pretty generally thought to be un-American and more or less subversive.' Einstein believed in the lot."
Einstein, The Life and Times by Ronald W. Clark.
(test to see if I closed everything.
Jerry Scheel
-- posted by GeraldS_2
» Dan_Ellsworth - Right, but I think you tried, then I tried, then you succeeded.
Right, but I think you tried, then I tried, then you succeeded.I wouldn't attempt to deny Albert Einstein's complexity and nonconformity - and considerable basic goodness, for that matter; I was responding only to the earlier cute quote about Einstein as the devil's delight. That really didn't work for me. Whether the Newton one made sense, I won't attempt to say.
Quite aside from physics, I am fascinated by one story I read about Einstein. When Christmas (!) carolers performed outside his home, he went out and accompanied them on his violin. Quite possibly Jews are disconcerted (so to speak) by Christmas carolers; I consider Einstein's response awesome. Was he noted for a sense of humor? I wish I had met him.
Dan Ellsworth (e-mail, bio), Editor, "Christianity - Protestant"
-- posted by Dan_Ellsworth
» GeraldS_2 - Daniel, I wonder if you are misinterpretting the verse about Ein
Daniel, I wonder if you are misinterpretting the verse about Einstein. I don't think John Collins Squire meant to imply that Einstein was literally created by the devil. Rather, that after Newton it appeared that physicists had all the answers and there were only a few loose ends to tie up. But with relativity (and quantum) there were raised so many new and mysterious questions that the scientists realized how little they really knew,(and still don't have answers for).-- posted by GeraldS_2
» Dan_Ellsworth - Makes sense to me. Like the expression "the devil to pay" - doe
Makes sense to me. Like the expression "the devil to pay" - doesn't really mean a financial transfer payable to a fallen angel, but an ugly mess to try to straighten out.Dan Ellsworth (e-mail, bio), Editor, "Christianity - Protestant"
-- posted by Dan_Ellsworth
» GeraldS_2 - EXACTLY! Anyway I find it hard to believe that there actually e
EXACTLY! Anyway I find it hard to believe that there actually exists a Satan....at least as an entity. We are told that he was created perfect until fault was found in him. And the sons of God took the daughters of men to wife. As Porgy said, "It ain't necessarily so."-- posted by GeraldS_2
» Dan_Ellsworth - I don't quite recognize the Satan story as you describe it, but
I don't quite recognize the Satan story as you describe it, but the prospects of performing physical tests to verify nonphysical beings seem sharply limited anyway. So for the moment, ... let's see, where were we before we had the devil to pay?Dan Ellsworth (e-mail, bio), Editor, "Christianity - Protestant"
-- posted by Dan_Ellsworth
» Dan_Ellsworth - Thanks, Linda. It seems you opened up the Physics Lounge, put o
Thanks, Linda. It seems you opened up the Physics Lounge, put out some mental snacks, and let the good times roll. I think my recent contacts with Gerald Scheel will leave my mind a little more flexible and alert, for purpose and pleasure.Dan Ellsworth (e-mail, bio), Editor, "Christianity - Protestant"
-- posted by Dan_Ellsworth
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