Thursday, April 10, 2008

Einstein and Religion



Originally uploaded by James W Bell
Einstein published a paper in Nature in 1940 entitled "Science and Religion" which gave his views on the subject.: " Accordingly a religious person is devout in the sense that he has no doubt of the significance of those super-personal objects and goals which neither require nor are capable of rational foundation … In this sense religion is the age-old endeavour of mankind to become clearly and completely conscious of these values and goals, and constantly to strengthen their effects." Also: He argued that conflicts between science and religion "have all sprung from fatal errors." "Even though the realms of religion and science in themselves are clearly marked off from each other" there are "strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies … science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind … a legitimate conflict between science and religion cannot exist."