I grow tired of hearing people ramble on about how religious Einstein actually was when he clearly stated the exact opposite on numerous occasions. Listen folks, his “faith” was an abstract, non-religious feeling with respect to the beauty of the universe — not a religious belief the way Christians and Jews want it to be.
But don’t take my word for it. Here are a few choice words from someone who actually had the most insight into the matter.
“The idea of a personal God is quite alien to me and seems even naïve.” “The idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I am unable to take seriously.” “Thus I came — though the child of entirely irreligious (Jewish) parents — to a deep religiousness, which, however, reached an abrupt end at the age of twelve.” “I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one.” “I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the type of which we are conscious in ourselves. An individual who should survive his physical death is also beyond my comprehension, nor do I wish it otherwise; such notions are for the fears or absurd egoism of feeble souls.” “From the viewpoint of a Jesuit priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist.” “It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.” — Albert Einstein
