Suck...
1. Einstein trodde inte på gud. Jag har redan korrigerat dig på denna punkt men får väl göra det igen.
Så här skriver han om sin syn på en personlig gud i ett brev (som svar på en fråga om just detta i ett brev):
Citat:
Ursprungligen postat av Einstein
I get hundreds and hundreds of letters but seldom one so interesting as yours. I believe that your opinions about our society are quite reasonable.
It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.
I have no possibility to bring the money you sent me to the appropriate receiver. I return it therefore in recognition of your good heart and intention. Your letter shows me also that wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.
När vi ändå håller på kan vi ta ett brev till av Einstein
Citat:
Ursprungligen postat av Einstein
I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation. I cannot do this in spite of the fact that mechanistic causality has, to a certain extent, been placed in doubt by modern science.
My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of the highest importance-but for us, not for God.
Om själens odödlighet skrev han följande:
Citat:
Ursprungligen postat av Einstein
I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it.
och
Citat:
Ursprungligen postat av Einstein
The mystical trend of our time, which shows itself particularly in the rampant growth of the so-called Theosophy and Spiritualism, is for me no more than a symptom of weakness and confusion.
Since our inner experiences consist of reproductions and combinations of sensory impressions, the concept of a soul without a body seems to me to be empty and devoid of meaning.
Att kalla Einstein för religiös är alltså som att kalla mig för religiös. Han hade en tendens att använda ordet Gud, men som breven visar så är Einsteins "Gud" ingenting annat än naturlagarna.
Sammanfattning:
- Tror ej på en personlig gud
- Han är endast religiös i betydelsen att han beundrar världens struktur
- Han tror ej på en icke-materialistisk själ
- Etik/Moral är mänskliga och har ingen övermänsklig auktoritet bakom dem
Vi avslutar med några meningar från hans "Autobiographical notes":
Citat:
Ursprungligen postat av Einstein
Thus I came--despite the fact I was the son of entirely irreligious (Jewish) parents--to a deep religiosity, which, however, found an abrupt ending at the age of 12. Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true. The consequence was a positively fanatic [orgy of] freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is intentionally being deceived...Suspicion against every kind of authority grew out of this experience, a skeptical attitude... has never left me...
2. Stora fysiker är
inte gudfruktiga och ju "större" de är desto mindre gudfruktiga är de. Det har gjorts flera undersökningar som visar att gudstro bland de bästa amerikanska vetenskapsmännen är mindre utbrett än bland de mediokra, och mycket mindre utbrett än bland amerikaner i allmänhet.
Från undersökning av forskare som är med i National Academy of Sciences
(NAS) i USA, alltså relativt framstående forskare.
We found the highest percentage of belief among NAS mathematicians (14.3% in God, 15.0% in immortality). Biological scientists had the lowest rate of belief (5.5% in God, 7.1% in immortality), with physicists and astronomers slightly higher (7.5% in God, 7.5% in immortality).
Om vi tar alla kategorier fås följande utveckling med tiden.
BELIEF IN PERSONAL GOD 1914 1933 1998
Personal belief 27.7 15 7.0
Personal disbelief 52.7 68 72.2
Doubt or agnosticism 20.9 17 20.8
BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY 1914 1933 1998
Personal belief 35.2 18 7.9
Personal disbelief 25.4 53 76.7
Doubt or agnosticism 43.7 29 23.3
Jämför dessa procentantal med ~80 % vilket resultatet för amerikaner i allmänhet.
Källa: "Leading Scientists Still Reject God." Nature, 1998; 394, 313.]