An old forgotten letter written by Albert Einstein in 1954 is up for auction in London. What is so special about this letter is Einstein’s unequivocal rejection of religion.

Einstein penned the letter to the philosopher Eric Gutkind who had sent him a copy of his book Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. The letter went on public sale a year later and has remained in private hands ever since.

In the letter, he states: “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. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.”

Einstein goes onto say about being Jewish…

“For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything ‘chosen’ about them.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/may/12/peopleinscience.religion/print

I somehow like the last paragraph of the linked article…

Despite his categorical rejection of conventional religion, Brooke said that Einstein became angry when his views were appropriated by evangelists for atheism. He was offended by their lack of humility and once wrote. “The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.”

(bold by me)

GdB

Good point, GdB. As an atheist, I still find evangelical atheism to be obtrusive. Evangelism of any kind is annoying. To be fair however, I don’t believe evangelical atheism would have come about if not for evangelical religious zealots butting into everyone’s lives and politics. Fight fire with fire???

Well the letter sold today for 400,000

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24668015/

hmm “passion for theoretical physics and all it entails”? I’m glad the contents of the letter were published before the sale, although the uber religious will still put their spin on what exactly he meant. Thanks for the info.

Interestingly, there is a link on that website to a Chris Mathews show interviewing Isaacson. Pat Robertson tries to slip in the thought that Einstein might favor ID.

rationaljeff - 13 May 2008 01:35 PM

An old forgotten letter written by Albert Einstein in 1954 is up for auction in London. What is so special about this letter is Einstein’s unequivocal rejection of religion.

It also was relatively obscure and not referenced in most/any of the Einstein biographies. It is important for providing new information.