On Albert Einstein's God Letter

Posted: 12/8/2018

Preamble

I have previously blogged that Albert Einstein was a stupid socialist.

Briefly About The Letter

Written by Einstein at the age of 74 in 1954 (one year before his death) to Eric Gutkind after reading his book, Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. In early December 2018, this letter was sold at auction for $2.9 million.

Unfortunately, I do not remember ever having read this short letter before.

Was Einstein A Misanthrope?

In this short 1.5 page letter, Einstein writes (emphasis & commentary added):

1. “... The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weakness ...”
2. [So much arrogance and ignorance coming from Einstein! God is much more than a word! Believing in something like God is a strength of human beings not a weakness by any stretch of imagination. Was Einstein a misanthrope?]
3. “... the Bible a collection of honorable, but still purely primitive, legends which are nevertheless pretty childish ...”
4. [So much arrogance and ignorance coming from Einstein! The Bible contains some of the greatest stories about humanity ever written. There are too many to mention here and I am not a Bible expert, but the just the story of David & Goliath or Jesus wrote cast the first stone if you are innocent and so many more. Was Einstein a misanthrope?]
5. “... No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this ...”
   [Einstein is here referring to the other above quotes. So disappointing that Einstein was such a dumb man. Einstein had a huge attitude problem!]
6. “... For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstition ...”
   [How infantile was Einstein at the end of his life? Were these expressions of severe senility or did he harbor such opinions most of his life?]
7. “... And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong ... although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything “chosen” about them. ...”
   [Again Einstein’s arrogance and ignorance is incredible. The Jewish people have e.g. contributed so much to civilization over thousands of years that Einstein’s contributions to physics are almost negligible in comparison.

Einstein is also reported as saying "Without 'ethical culture' there is no salvation for humanity." (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein). Where did Einstein think ethics, life, or even the universe were coming from?

Einstein Is Highly Overrated

The more I read about Einstein’s life outside of physics, I begin to sense that his nimbus and his popularity is highly overrated. Outside of physics, Einstein was certainly not such a genius!

Sources:
http://www.hillmanweb.com/reason/inspiration/einstein.html
Albert Einstein's 'God letter' sells for $2.9m