Subject: Re: What if there is a God?
From: Robbie (shok@netcom.com)
Date: Sun Jan 09 2000 - 06:01:24 EST
you said:
<< Einstein is? But I thought he said something about
science would be boring without religion and all that
jazz. I don't know the exact quote. >>
As far as I know, Einstein never called himself an Atheist. He did,
however, express frustration at being constantly misquoted and
misconstrued as being a relious man. He often referred to god ("God is
mysterious but not malicious," "God does not play dice with the
Universe" and so forth) but you may be best to chalk that up to poetic
license. I refer to god and souls pretty frequently myself but do not
believe in them. I also refer to Zeus from time to time.
Einstein said on many occasions (I'll get transcripts from interviews
and cite sources if anyone doubts my credibility) that he very certainly
does NOT believe in a personal god, that the notion strikes him as a bit
absurd, and that he "does not believe that a man can survive the death
of his body."
And as a personal god and an afterlife are the single most defining
characteristics of Theism, I think it is not entirely unreasonable to
call Einstein an Atheist.
<< But what if there is a God? What then? >>
Then I'm wrong. But I have no more reason to believe that I'm wrong in
saying that there is no god(s) than I am in saying there is no Santa
Claus or that there is no Force (as in, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker,
Lighsaber FORCE). They MIGHT be real. I certainly cannot prove that
they're not. But I have no reason to believe that they are. And if I
believe in everything that I can't disprove, I'll have to believe every
bullshit story anybody ever tells me.
okay,
robbie
"I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've
been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was
intellectually unrespectable to say that one is an atheist, because it
assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow it was better to say one
was a humanist or agnostic. I don't have the evidence to prove that God
doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect that he doesn't that I don't
want to waste my time."
-Isaac Asimov
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