Einstein was an atheist? Who cares

Benbulbin, Northern Ireland (photo from trekearth.com)

From

http://www.some-guy.com/quotes/stupid.html

'The word 'genius' isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.'--Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback & sports analyst.

http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2008/05/einstein_god is_human_weakness.html

Einstein: ‘god is human weakness’ - May 14, 2008

Einstein’s often-debated views on religion look to have been made clearer by a document up for auction tomorrow.

“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,” he writes in the 1954 letter to philosopher Eric Gutkind.

Bloomsbury Auctions, which is selling the letter, expects it to go for between £6000 and £8000 (press release). If you don’t have that much spare change, you can always read Einstein’s 1940 Nature article ‘Science and Religion’ (subscription required).

In that piece he notes:

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 to influence, the phenomenal world. ... The idea of God in the religions taught at present is a sublimation of that old conception of the gods.

The Guardian has more extracts of the letter than the press release, and its coverage quotes John Brooke of Oxford University thus:

Like other great scientists he does not fit the boxes in which popular polemicists like to pigeonhole him. It is clear for example that he had respect for the religious values enshrined within Judaic and Christian traditions ... but what he understood by religion was something far more subtle than what is usually meant by the word in popular discussion.

Are we the only people who expect Richard Dawkins to bid?

A brilliant scientist that one can learn from does not necessarily make a brilliant philosopher or theologian to learn from. Academic religious education is another complex discipline on its own. Atheism versus Christianity is a discussion where scientists on both sides can agree on actual empirical science and disagree on issues concerning theology and first cause.

A strictly empirical philosophical approach to life can rule out God from being a possible consideration. This is where divine revelation/theology and philosophy of religion come into play.

Science finds empirical truth and is extremely valuable, but science cannot provide information concerning the deepest purposes of life and why a first cause would create human beings. This must be revealed by an infinite, eternal, first cause. A common mistake made by some today is to make science the ultimate source for knowledge, and science has limitations as do all other important academic disciplines, which add to human knowledge.

The problem of evil and theodicy is an issue that arises in the discussion between Christians and critics:

Without the philosophical concept of God existing and delivering humanity from sin, death, and evil, there is no reasonable ultimate purpose for human beings other than to non-exist (death). Human relative goodness is simply a lack of maximization of evil. God willingly allows the problem of evil and human nature and the resulting choices fuel it. This is a reason why with all the human progress in knowledge, including scientific knowledge, over the millennia, persons are as capable as ever of committing much evil. Only God can change the nature of persons and in Christ there is a plan for this with the atoning work, resurrection and culminated Kingdom.

Science and Religion:

For scientists a key issue is that they must have autonomy and science cannot be subjected to some external authority on what has to be believed. Science cannot as well be subjected to the idea of God which cannot be subjected to normal scientific scrutiny. Habgood (1999: 526).

Science should not be subjected to outside rules which govern inquiry and results. The immaterial God of spirit cannot be discovered scientifically. God does not consist of matter, and is not made up of measurable energy which makes matter work.

From:

http://www.ftexploring.com/energy/definition.html

Energy is a property or characteristic (or trait or aspect?) of matter that makes things happen, or, in the case of stored or potential energy, has the "potential" to make things happen.

Scientism:

A pejorative term for the concept that only the methods of natural science and related categories form the elements for any philosophical or other enquiry. Blackburn (1996: 344).

Theodicy:

The aspect of theology concerned with defending God and his goodness and omnipotence, in a world where suffering and evil exist. Blackburn (1996: 375).

Robert M. Adams notes that the word theodicy is from the Greek, as theos is God and dike is justice. Theodicy is a defence of the justice of God in the face of objections arising from the problem of evil in the world. Adams (1996: 794).

ADAMS, ROBERT. M (1996) ‘Theodicy’, in Robert Audi (ed.), The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

BLACKBURN, SIMON (1996) Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

HABGOOD, JOHN (1999) ‘Science and Religion’, in Alan Richardson and John Bowden (eds.), A New Dictionary of Christian Theology, Kent, SCM Press Ltd.


Eagle vs. Swan (thanks Mom)

This scene reminds me of a 1970s Marvel Comics type cover where two superheroes battle.


I received these two kittens for free for some reason. I am not sure if they come from same litter. The one on the left sure eats a lot.