Defending Pantheism

[vulcanlogician]

Do pantheists believe in an afterlife or after-existence?

No.

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I don't think it's appropriate to pronounce Einstein a pantheist without him here to confirm it. It fits some of his statements (Spinoza's god) but I wouldn't have bet on him self-identifying as such.

I wouldn't bother trying to tear down pantheism or deism because it's harder to imagine more harmless religious thought. I think it might even be counter-productive because it could re-enforce the "angry atheist" stereotype who actively opposes religion just because it's religion - even when it's religion which does no harm.

Well then don't try to "tear it down" out of anger. If you disagree with the pantheists' position, attack it with logical arguments.

There is more than just the one quote, "I believe in the god of Spinoza," that suggests that Einstein was a pantheist. In fact, he didn't like to be labeled an atheist because of such inclinations. So I think designating him as a pantheist is appropriate.

The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I am a devoutly religious man.

This accurately describes the religiosity of a pantheist. There is no more (or less) to the spiritual inclinations of the pantheist than this. So I will stand by my categorization of Einstein here.