Replies

"Is it an "error" to disagree with you, b_sharp?"

Of course not.

However you clearly stated that Einstein believed in a personal God and Einstein clearly stated that he did not. You are in error, by Einstein's own words. No interpretation necessary.

"No positivist would be caught dead saying such things."

OK, you have convinced me he is not a positivist.

"At the end of the day, I'll just say that I have reason to believe that Einstein was a realist -- doubly, in both the Newtonian and the Platonic senses of that word. And like Plato (and Newton for that matter), he felt the "pulls" of the divine in his consciousness, and responded thereto.

Do you have any links to his writing where he expresses that 'pull' of the divine?

"Perhaps the difficulty we're having is that you conflate "religiosity" with specific creeds and denominations. I do not.

No, actually I do not. And I do understand Einstein's religiosity. I have no problem with religiosity without a formal religion. But that is not what our argument is about. It was not me that attempted to pigeonhole Einstein's religious beliefs, it was you by asserting with no uncertainty that Einstein believed in a personal God. This by definition, leaves out many other spiritual possibilities including Paganism, Dharmism, Deism and Naturalistic Pantheism. The last two are likely the closest to a description of his belief system.

"In any case, Einstein wasn't "denominational" at all. He was simply open to God, and he did call Him "The Old One."

I never argued otherwise.

"Looking at his Jewish heritage and culture, and his lifelong identification with "The Tribe," my speculation that The Old One was his fanciful name for the God of the Old Testament is hardly a great stretch, or an irrational one on my part.

Except he declared quite clearly and in many places he did not believe in the God of the Bible, including the OT.

I have a strong affinity with my people and was raised with a strict creationist background yet I am an atheist. I have a younger brother raised in the same household as I was who is an OEC. Affinity to a group and upbringing do not guarantee belief system.

You are firmly entrenched in your own interpretation of his belief system, based not on his words but on what you perceive as his life.

I would prefer to take him at his word.

If Einstein were still alive and you asked him point blank if he believed in a personal God, specifically Jehovah of the OT and he unequivocally stated no, would you believe him?