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Religion and Science
by
Albert Einstein
4.07 · Rating details · 138 ratings · 7 reviews
Religion and Science
by Albert Einstein
The following article by Albert Einstein appeared in the New York Times Magazine on November 9, 1930 pp 1-4. It has been reprinted in Ideas and Opinions, Crown Publishers, Inc. 1954, pp 36 - 40. It also appears in Einstein's book The World as I See It, Philosophical Library, New York, 1949, pp. 24 - 28.
Everything that the human race has done and thought is concerned with the satisfaction of deeply felt needs and the assuagement of pain. One has to keep this constantly in mind if one wishes to understand spiritual movements and their development. Feeling and longing are the motive force behind all human endeavor and human creation, in however exalted a guise the latter may present themselves to us. Now what are the feelings and needs that have led men to religious thought and belief in the widest sense of the words? A little consideration will suffice to show us that the most varying emotions preside over the birth of religious thought and experience. With primitive man it is above all fear that evokes religious notions - fear of hunger, wild beasts, sickness, death. Since at this stage of existence understanding of causal connections is usually poorly developed, the human mind creates illusory beings more or less analogous to itself on whose wills and actions these fearful happenings depend. Thus one tries to secure the favor of these beings by carrying out actions and offering sacrifices which, according to the tradition handed down from generation to generation, propitiate them or make them well disposed toward a mortal. In this sense I am speaking of a religion of fear. This, though not created, is in an important degree stabilized by the formation of a special priestly caste which sets itself up as a mediator between the people and the beings they fear, and erects a hegemony on this basis. In many cases a leader or ruler or a privileged class whose position rests on other factors combines priestly functions with its secular authority in order to make the latter more secure; or the political rulers and the priestly caste make common cause in their own interests. (less)
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Kindle Edition, 12 pages
Published (first published October 15th 2010)
ASIN
B0047Y0FVE
Edition Language
English
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Dec 15, 2020Mohamedridha Alaskari محمد رضا العسكري rated it liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: philosophy, science, theory
لابد من ذكر حقيقة قد تكون مغيّبة عن الكثير، وهي بأن اينشتاين هو صهيوني مؤمن بالصهيونية وقد وضف بعض من نتاجه الفكري لخدمة القضايا اليهودية وخصوصا قضية اليهود بفلسطين وهذا ما رأيته جليّا بكتابه الذي قرأته قبل عامين تقريبا والذي يحمل عنوان: افكار وآراء الذي نشرته المكتبة الحديثة ١٩٩٤ بالنسخة الانجليزية والذي يخصص به مقالات عديدة عن قضية اليهود بفلسطين والتشجيع على استيطانهم.
وفي هذا الكتاب فقد خصص اينشتاين فصل قصير ايضاً يتناول قضية استيطان اليهود بفلسطين ودعمه وتشجيعه لهذا المشروع.
في هذ الكتاب تح ...more
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Mar 28, 2015JoseRuiz added it
Versatile
Open minded. Albert Einstein was both a scientist and a believer in God. There are other writings which support this statement.
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Dec 12, 2014Gabriel Iqbal rated it it was amazing
Ingenious - peace keeper - savant
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Apr 10, 2016Ieditit rated it really liked it
The Genius of Einstein is neither bound nor diminished by Religion or the Material World
His genius is unbounded and the graciousness of this faculty shines bright in his short treatise on religion and the ways it is completely coherent with scientific inquiry.
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Apr 20, 2015Alvin rated it liked it
Good book
It's a good book but the second chapter is still missing I just wanted to let you all know hopefully Amazon will fix this soon (less)
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Mar 22, 2019Utsob Roy rated it it was amazing
আইন্সটাইন কালচারালি ইহুদী, ধর্মীয়ভাবে নন। তবে তার ধর্ম/ঈশ্বরবিশ্বাস ছিল। সেটা আজকাল বহু বিজ্ঞানীদের ভেতরেই থাকে। এই ঈশ্বর ধর্মগ্রন্থের না, প্রকৃতির ও গণিতের ঈশ্বর।
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Jan 22, 2021Neall rated it really liked it
Favorite passages:
"Yet the ancients knew something which we seem to have forgotten. All means prove but a blunt instrument, if they have not behind them a living spirit. But if the longing for the achievement of the goal is powerfully alive within us, then shall we not lack the strength to find the means for reaching the goal and for translating it into deeds."
"To be sure, the doctrine of a personal God interfering with natural events could never be refuted, in the real sense, by science, for this doctrine can always take refuge in those domains in which scientific knowledge has not yet been able to set foot. But I am persuaded that such behavior on the part of the representatives of religion would not only be unworthy but also fatal. For a doctrine which is able to maintain itself not in clear light but only in the dark, will of necessity lose its effect on mankind, with incalculable harm to human progress. In their struggle for the ethical good, teachers of religion must have the stature to give up the doctrine of a personal God, that is, give up that source of fear and hope which in the past placed such vast power in the hands of priests. In their labors they will have to avail themselves of those forces which are capable of cultivating the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in humanity itself. This is, to be sure, a more difficult but an incomparably more worthy task"
"And so it seems to me that science not only purifies the religious impulse of the dross of its anthropomorphism but also contributes to a religious spiritualization of our understanding of life." (less)
