Interesting anecdotes between Einstein and Edison.

Einstein was not religious

We often see the author claiming that Einstein was religious in articles defending religious beliefs, especially Christianity and Buddhism. I have refuted this many times before, pointing out that this was a rumor that had been spread as early as Einstein was still alive and clarified by Einstein himself. But to this day, this rumor still pops up from time to time. For example, I saw this many times in the reader comments of the article "Academicians Are Superstitious and Do Not Eat the Fireworks of the World" I wrote for the "Sohu Anti-Counterfeiting" column. Therefore, it is necessary to quote Einstein’s own clarification here:

“What you read about my religious beliefs is of course a lie, a lie that is systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God, and I have never denied it but expressed it clearly. If there is anything in my heart that can be called religious, it is the understanding of the structure of the world that science can reveal to us. "(Einstein's reply to a machinist on March 24, 1954)

"I do not believe in individual immortality. I think ethics is purely about human beings' own care. There is no superhuman authority hiding behind." (Einstein's reply to a Baptist minister, July 17, 1953)

Those who preach the necessity of religious belief often cite love. Einstein's famous quote:

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

I dare say these quoters have never seen this. He imposed his own understanding of religion on Einstein in the context of a famous quote. What Einstein meant by "religion" was not religion in the ordinary sense. Religion is generally defined as the belief or worship of supernatural forces, but above this famous quote, Einstein "stealthily changed the concept" and defined religion as "superpersonal" that allows people to transcend selfish desires. Value is the pursuit of a transpersonal goal, whether or not it is related to God. In other words, the "religion" he refers to here is actually what most people call "morality" or "belief", so he said: "If people understand religion and science according to these definitions, then what is the difference between them?" There can be no conflict.” The so-called “science without religion is lame” simply means that scientists all have a passion and belief in the pursuit of truth:

“Science can only be composed of It arises from people who are permeated by a passion for truth and understanding. However, the source of this emotion also belongs to this category: the belief that it is possible to understand the world through reason. It is impossible to imagine a true scientist without this deep belief.”

Following this famous quote, Einstein criticized traditional religion, stating:

“Today. The main reason for the conflict between the categories of religion and science is the concept of personal God."

He also called on religious teachers to abandon the dogma of personal God and give up this source of fear and hope. Religion can only benefit from scientific knowledge if its leaders redefine it accordingly.

“True piety is not achieved through fear of life, fear of death, or blind faith, but through efforts to obtain rational knowledge.”

It can be seen that love The main purpose of Einstein's famous saying is to criticize traditional religion and hope that religious leaders will give up dogma that is contrary to science. It is ridiculous to use this famous saying to defend traditional religion, claiming that traditional religion has no conflict with science, or even that science cannot be separated from traditional religion.

Reference: Global Magazine