Religion? It’s all crap suggested Einstein

A LETTER written by Einstein the year before his death says that God is the product of human weakness and that the Bible is “pretty childish”.

The letter, which being auctioned in London this week, adds more fuel to the debate about the Nobel prize-winning physicist’s religious views. It is expected to fetch around £6,000

Einstein, who became a US citizen in 1940, helped unravel the mysteries of the universe with his theory of relativity, expressed complex and arguably contradictory views on faith, perceiving a universe suffused with spirituality while rejecting organised religion.

According to KansasCity.com, the letter, written to philosopher Eric Gutkind in January 1954 — Einstein died in April 1955 at Princeton, N J – suggests his views on religion did not mellow with age.

In it, Einstein said:

The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.

He added:

For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions.

Addressing the idea that the Jews are God’s chosen people, Einstein wrote:

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.

John Brooke, emeritus professor of science and religion at Oxford University, said the letter lends weight to the notion that “Einstein was not a conventional theist” — although he was not an atheist, either.

He is rather quirky about religion.

Einstein famously said:

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

But he also said:

I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil. My God created laws that take care of that. His universe is not ruled by wishful thinking, but by immutable laws.

UPDATE: (May 15) The letter has been sold for a staggering £170,000 to a private collector.