Einstein marveled at the perfection of the Universe, at the mathematical precision underlying its workings, at the astonishing fact that we humans can not just deign to understand it, but to understand it. All this wonder and amazement and respect and awe was, for him, bundled up in one word: God. There are many quotes of his where he invokes 'God', the most famous being "I cannot believe that God would choose to play dice with the universe", which he uses to belittle quantum physics and all its apparent paradoxes. With all of Einstein's various quotes, some are palatable to Creationists and some are not, so when they need to appeal to a great intellectual for support, they pick the appropriate quote and pronounce "Thus spake Einstein!"
But no more. A little known letter from Einstein is up for auction next week. According to an article in the Guardian,
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."Somehow I picture Creationists spinning this for their own purposes, although it will be interesting to see how they do it. And when I say "Creationists", I really mean the mouthpieces for the Creationists and Intelligent Design proponents. I think most religious people will understand Einstein's meaning, whether or not they agree with it.
Next up: secret letters from the founding fathers to posterity that this nation was not founded on Christian faith.
(First seen at ERV)
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