Is Einstein Right? Is Belief in God a Childish Superstition? Albert Einstein

Belief in God is childish, as is belief in most things. To think God exists, that's ok.

Also, science isn't mean to be truth. I wish I had time to get into all the philosophical arguments as to why it's not, but I just don't have time right now.

Let me try and poorly summarize it. Science is meant to help humans understand the world around them in order to control and predict the powers of nature. But science IS NOT (is being the important word here, as equates to) total truth. It is a reflection of the information that is available, science is INDUCTIVE not deductive reasoning.

Read "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" by Daniel Kuhn for an introduction into this debate.

if i see one more freaking story this week about Einstein and god i'm gonna make myself a time machine and go back and strangle the guy in his crib.

I agree with you saladin...

I think calling belief in religion childish is just to act as a polemic.

While I do see some importance in his message, science asks you to question what you hear, yet religion asks you believe it blindly on faith.

Ah, religion. The ultimate divider of the human race.

Good short response, Saladin. It sounds as though you could have made it a long discussion.

What's so fascinating about the human race is that we are all so alike and yet at the same time so different. We spend our life seeking answers to questions about why (religion) and how (science) we exist, Sometimes we should just let go of being attached to our beliefs and realize we're all in this together. Stop trying to convince others you know better...Einstein may have been brilliant, but it does not mean his beliefs are more valid than anyone's elses. If he believes a belief in God is a childish supersition, oh well. He's entitled. I'm entitled to my beliefs, and you're entitled to yours. There really is only one truth that everyone should believe, and that is that NO ONE KNOWS THE TRUTH. As soon as you accept this, you'll be surprised how less disgusting the rest of humanity seems.

it makes sins but yet so difficult to comprehend for the weak minded. I don't necessarily believe in what is said here, but i understand were you are coming from.

I for one believe the IPCC knows what they're talking about. and I believe scientists know more about science than I do. So when the majority of scientists say something, I believe them more than whatever else I'd built my previous assumptions on.

is that childish of me?

Funny how Believers are always attacking “God given FreeWill”. It says something about the attackers…something not so good.

In truth, the truth will eventually tell that truth, as well as science and religion, have all been perverted to aid those who have wished to profit by that perversion or too foolish to know otherwise...whether they be religiious or non religious. Poor Einstien was really too busy with the 'reason of science' to entertain the notion of God.

What most people don't understand, is that God is a concept, one that different people believe different things about, quite often neither logical or reasonable, because of so much esoteric mystery and mythical misconception surrounding that concept. Science, on the other hand is mostly about logic and reason.

Eventually, ultimate truth will show that science and the concept of God are two different aspects of the same reality...that cannot be separated. If you believe that God is the universe then all things there involve science. If you believe God is just an all powerful being existing within all the universes, then science is still a part of that existence.

If you don't believe in God, but you believe in science then you will eventually come to realize that science has already proved that a more advanced race of beings existed on this planet before we humans. This race of beings conceived of the idea of creating a race of workers called the Adam, meaning man in the pre Summerian language. They engineered us from the strong bodies of the Neanderthal and the strong minds of themselves...hence we were created, but through invitro fertilization, with the fetuses nurtured within the wombs of vestal virgins. It took mileniums to get us to where we were intelligent workers...and many advanced far beyond that...these individuals were the ones who were taught the knowledge of the Elohim, 'those who came from above'...

The further we have gotten away from those times, the more we have lost that knowledge, which teaches us of harmony and non-violence...The Bible is a collection of, sometimes poorly translated, ancient writings from that era and mostly the story of the Jewish peoples after that...The ones we call God have since left us, but they are clairvoyant and can still communicate with us through our minds, trying to persuade us evermore toward non-hostility.
When we learn to be non violent as a planet once again, they will come back to live with us...in the meantime, they will not babysit us. We must learn by our own merit to be more advanced than the crude war mongerers that we are now...

In closing, (I've tried to keep this short) I'd have to say that Einstein, if in fact he truly denies believing in God, never realized that the Elohim were communicating with him all along, telling him things he never would have imagined otherwise...that's how the Elohim are...The father figure in this version of the concept is considered to be the supreme being... in the many different religions of this world, he is one and the same being. And, basically, all religions are evolutions of this same concept...so all share the same thread of reality or mysticism, however you look at it...we are all part of infinity in this way...

So, if you fear Muslims or hate them, know that they are, essentially, much like a Christian or a Jew or any other religion...we all want the same thing: life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness... someday, non-violently...

The role of Jesus, in all of this, was to convince the fundamental extremists and the collective mind of man that this non-violent approach was the way of the future...the will of the father. For this, he was crucified mercilessly, so that the so called 'pillars of society' could maintain their lofty positions in their narrow-minded world. Jesus now knows that the spark from his effort has become the eternal flame that has set this world on fire. Therefore, those of you who profess to be good Christians, yet support the egoist policies of the war mongering elite, are merely deluding yourselves...

The challenge now, is for the many different cultures of this planet to agree on an ideological concensus, while preserving the rich cultural diversity that exists within it... hence, diplomacy will be the perferred method of communicating with the so called 'enemy'...

Check it out...

Wow. God, reduced to a status comparable to Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.
Some would conclude that Albert was blinded by Science.

Plato Tacius
I love your story I have even heard one similar, its quite a common, as you said, "mythical" thread.

The best part is how you start giving vague truths that no-one can deny, and then almost out of no where you claim that science has proved there was a race before homo-sapiens that made us into what we are.

Starting logically, proceeding on biased pre-concieved notions, and then coming to some sort of logical seeming conclusion, is flawed logic.

Unless you can come up with some evidence, you are merely going on hear say, or maybe making it up. you tell me.

You know I never considered benevolent Elohim before PlatoTacius, my understanding of the Elohim were malevolent.

What relation do the Elohim have with the Archons? Perhaps I have been confused in thinking that they were one in the same when they are actually different. My understanding and confusion perhaps from having identified the Archon Jehovah and the quotes attributed to him the Jewish scriptures and the Bible. Specifically John 8:44 where Jesus tells the Pharisees, the Religious and Political Elite of his day, that their God that they have been serving is the devil.

Early Gnostic Christians held views like these that with reading them have turned my whole understanding of the world and history on its ear. Combining this information with recent scientific archaeological discoveries in China and the Americas that place human cave settlements back as far as 280K to 500K years ago where they found stone wear for eating and tools; together with the latest theories and experiments being carried out that are testing things that used to be considered science fiction and fantasy, I have been opening up my mind to the vast possibilities.

One assumption I have found to be very clear, humanity is generally pretty arrogant when it comes to its knowledge and thinks that civilization has only existed for a mere 10K years. Well that theory has been completely blown out of the water. More and more evidence is emerging pointing to what you have said about an advanced race of beings on this planet long before we became "civilized".

The Bible calls them Nephilim in Genesis. They were giants.

I find it interesting that Sumerian tablets were dug up in Iraq that depicted these giants sitting on thrones and the people; us, standing just an eye and forehead above the knee. On the tablets that I saw a photograph of were a constellation or diagram of twelve planets rotating around a sun with two planets in elliptical orbits at almost perpendicular to the major plane of the other ten. The giants looked like they had beards and armor and unusual head gear, the people looked like they were offering the goods of their labors to them. It was quite like what you described in your story. Fascinating.

Thanks for sharing that information I will have to do more research. I just purchased a book called "Suns of God" by Acharyas, it has been an interesting read.

Wow.
Is there a name for this belief system? Pardon my ignorance, but I am quite interested in all belief systems, even though I am less interested in the violent ones.

Let's clarify the word childish because I'm sensing most of us are responding to the "immature, weak, silly" perception of the word. Could Einstein have meant "childlike", which gives more the perception of innocence and trust? I guess not, since the word supersticious is also used.

I don't think it is childish to have a firm belief system, whether its in religion or science, or a combination of the two. I don't know anything about the belief expressed by PlatoTacius since I'm under the scientific belief of evolution that hasn't included genetic seeding by another race. And yes, I believe scientists know a heck of lot more today than they did yesterday, and yes, I believe them as well. And no, it does not make anyone childish. But one of my favorite movie quotes still explains how I feel. Anyone who has seen Men in Black will know this this one. And up to the "15 minutes" part, it's "true.":

"Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow."

Read any of the books by Zecharia Sitchen, a translater of ancient writings...The series 'Earth Chronicles' begins with 'The Twelfth Planet'. The planet that astronomers are just recently discovering, or admitting to discovering...

Given, that a theory maybe just a theory, sometimes the details that lead one to their own conclusions include that which is not written in books or viewed on a monitor...then, the most difficult thing for a human to do, sometimes, is to open up their soul to another human being...in a world filled with flawed logic...

All in all, it's very interesting, reading different people's opinions on subjects such as this...

Stay open-minded to everything. The truth is always subject to revision. We can't know everything about anything.

Einstien also said that "My goal in science is to see the hand of God working in the universe."

"the hand of god..." Interesting concept...

The article does not assert that Einstein had no religious beliefs, it just appears that he did not identify with any organized religion. His comments, that above and "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind" shows that he did have at least spiritual beliefs, including something called God. It would be interesting to see a timeline of these quotes to see if he just got more disillusioned as he got older - or his spirituality grew beyond the belief in God as a thing, hence the "childish supersition".

BTW - kudos to all of you for being level headed about your posts, regardless of your beliefs. I just left another post where personal beliefs escalated into hatred and vile accusations - whew! Good ole' Einstein - maybe his intellect presides here.

...the voice of logic and reason...we could always use more of that...