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Albert Einstein the Agnostic
January 24, 2016 at 4:02 pm
Found this quote on a blog and not sure what to make of it.
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 our own being.
Sincerely Yours,
Albert Einstein
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RE: Albert Einstein the Agnostic
January 24, 2016 at 4:31 pm
Yeah, I think there are a few people who prefer the label Agnostic because it's less confrontational. Neal deGrasse Tyson has said pretty much the same thing Einstein is saying here. Not that he really disagrees with Atheism philosophically, but that he's not in favor of the way some Atheists present themselves publicly. It's a pretty reasonable position. I also don't think Einstein was particularly interested in religion. His statements about it are pretty limited. Sometimes it's a wonder to me that people make such a big deal about Einstein's views on things not physics. As though being a well known Genius about one thing makes your omnipresent.
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RE: Albert Einstein the Agnostic
January 24, 2016 at 5:31 pm
(January 24, 2016 at 4:31 pm)CapnAwesome Wrote: Yeah, I think there are a few people who prefer the label Agnostic because it's less confrontational. Neal deGrasse Tyson has said pretty much the same thing Einstein is saying here. Not that he really disagrees with Atheism philosophically, but that he's not in favor of the way some Atheists present themselves publicly. It's a pretty reasonable position. I also don't think Einstein was particularly interested in religion. His statements about it are pretty limited. Sometimes it's a wonder to me that people make such a big deal about Einstein's views on things not physics. As though being a well known Genius about one thing makes your omnipresent.
What to you is "Atheism philosophically"?
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RE: Albert Einstein the Agnostic
January 24, 2016 at 7:47 pm
(January 24, 2016 at 5:31 pm)MattB Wrote: (January 24, 2016 at 4:31 pm)CapnAwesome Wrote: Yeah, I think there are a few people who prefer the label Agnostic because it's less confrontational. Neal deGrasse Tyson has said pretty much the same thing Einstein is saying here. Not that he really disagrees with Atheism philosophically, but that he's not in favor of the way some Atheists present themselves publicly. It's a pretty reasonable position. I also don't think Einstein was particularly interested in religion. His statements about it are pretty limited. Sometimes it's a wonder to me that people make such a big deal about Einstein's views on things not physics. As though being a well known Genius about one thing makes your omnipresent.
What to you is "Atheism philosophically"?
I mean Einstein wasn't against the notion there is no God. Even if he was an agnostic he didn't actively believe in God. So it's not like he disagreed with Atheism.
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RE: Albert Einstein the Agnostic
January 24, 2016 at 8:00 pm
(January 24, 2016 at 7:47 pm)CapnAwesome Wrote: (January 24, 2016 at 5:31 pm)MattB Wrote: What to you is "Atheism philosophically"?
I mean Einstein wasn't against the notion there is no God. Even if he was an agnostic he didn't actively believe in God. So it's not like he disagreed with Atheism.
I don't disagree with atheism either. Don't like fundies though. I have a problem with the man-made religions.
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RE: Albert Einstein the Agnostic
January 24, 2016 at 8:04 pm
(January 24, 2016 at 8:00 pm)MattB Wrote: (January 24, 2016 at 7:47 pm)CapnAwesome Wrote: I mean Einstein wasn't against the notion there is no God. Even if he was an agnostic he didn't actively believe in God. So it's not like he disagreed with Atheism.
I don't disagree with atheism either. Don't like fundies though. I have a problem with the man-made religions.
As if there are any other kind...
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
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RE: Albert Einstein the Agnostic
January 24, 2016 at 8:06 pm
It was a different time. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't phrase that way in today's world.
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RE: Albert Einstein the Agnostic
January 25, 2016 at 10:56 am
Why not, that's exactly how apologists phrase it today. We're told that "professional atheists" are rebelling against painful experiences, and that the good atheists shut their mouths and know their place, you know, with humility and whatnot.
Albert there bought a little bit of the koolaid. That shouldn't surprise anyone, given that a great many people still perpetuate this summary of atheism.
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RE: Albert Einstein the Agnostic
January 26, 2016 at 2:05 am
(This post was last modified: January 26, 2016 at 2:05 am by Heat.)
Albert Einstein is tough to decipher.
Seriously, look at his quotes on the subject of God.
He has tons of quotes that would lead to him being a Theist, and others leading to him being an Atheist.
Which is better:
To die with ignorance, or to live with intelligence?
Truth doesn't accommodate to personal opinions.
The choice is yours.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is God and there is man, it's only a matter of who created whom
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The more questions you ask, the more you realize that disagreement is inevitable, and communication of this disagreement, irrelevant.
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RE: Albert Einstein the Agnostic
January 26, 2016 at 2:16 am
(This post was last modified: January 26, 2016 at 2:17 am by robvalue.)
Indeed, hence people's love of quote mining him.
I think I'd describe him as something of a pantheist, but in an extremely abstract way so as to be pretty much indistinguishable from an atheist.
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