Funny. Those who deny God have no answers. They cannot disprove God, they have no clue why anything Is or they Are, yet they are smug in their complete ignorance. I find it amazing that as recently as the mid 70s, scientists were oblivious to 96% of the universe, and then had to craft first dark matter, and then dark energy to explain it (even though many scientists think the best current explanation for many of the unexplainable cosmological complexities, is a "multiverse" - up to an infinite number of simultaneous universes, even though they only see one, and even though they will likely never be able to prove more than one. I find scientists far more blind than the abrahamic religions...
Einstein was a Zionist. He had a political agenda. I don't think Einstein was blind, but he had his reasons and agenda for speaking about religion etc. I have no problems reasoning about reality, rationality, knowledge, living etc. I have no morality (religious phenomenon externally imposed by others onto individuals), but use ethics (my own sound analysis) instead. If you look at my posts here on ET, you will see I have a pretty good grasp on what is the world, philosophy, people and society. I can also stand for my views fully and point out how this has helped me and works very well for me - or any number of entities in the universe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein#Politics Einstein publicly stated reservations about the proposal to partition the British-supervised British Mandate of Palestine into independent Arab and Jewish countries. In a 1938 speech, "Our Debt to Zionism", he said: "I am afraid of the inner damage Judaism will sustainâespecially from the development of a narrow nationalism within our own ranks, against which we have already had to fight strongly, even without a Jewish state. ... If external necessity should after all compel us to assume this burden, let us bear it with tact and patience." In a 1947 letter to Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Einstein stated that the Balfour Declaration's proposal to establish a national home for Jews in Palestine "redresses the balance" of justice and history. Try to erase history, bubba-son...
Give me a fucking break, its the exact opposite. From philosophy 101, the classic Dichotomy of God: 1) All powerful 2) all knowing 3) absolute purity (good). Then how can there be so much crap in the world. Starvation, wars, etc.. Does not compute. Virtually every philosopher is an atheist for a reason. There is absolutely ZERO evidence for a God, and when presented with the above argument, believers invariably say you must have "faith". We cannot possibly understand God's motives. In other words, they have no argument. I actually find it embarrassing that otherwise intelligent people can believe in some all powerful being just because we haven't figured out how everything works yet. Look at what we have figured out in just the last century! It wasn't until just the past few decades that we figured out how lightning works. No, not punishment from the heavens. Hell, just 10,000 years ago we were in caves. The only answer I have for this belief in God is that virtually everyone, in every culture has been brain washed since birth to not even question the existence of God. Every culture has some sort of version of a God or Gods to help them understand the World around them. It gives them a sense of security. And don't even get me started on the Devil and hell. What an utterly absurd concept.
I really have little respect for science in the area of origins... we had a family in our little town that was killing their children if they were not blue eyed blondes, true story. The police investigated, found a small skeleton in a box in the garage. They said they could not really tell if that was a human child or a monkey and they did not investigate further. Now Leaky finds a bone fragment here and there spread over miles of area and he declares he has Lucy.. what a crock of shit....
Yes, you got me. Atheism is my crutch. I could never figure out how Noah got the Polar bears and the walruses on the same boat so I threw up my hands and became an atheist. I'm exposed.
We are many here off the "bottom" of the religious pyramid scheme... as individuals we are integrally stronger than the cult followers and worshippers as we provide our own structure and substance - not something pre-fabricated mumbo-jumbo from some priesthood hazy smokers trying to imprint teleology into our minds.
I have this feeling that God just isn't there. To reword the title, religion is a crutch for people who need that type of supernatural/spiritual motivation to get them through life. Honestly, the older I get the more I wish I'd been brought up in a religious family.
That is something I totally agree on, and what I have been saying in all my posts on the subject. Religion is helpful in strengthening the "internals" of some people, because they are totally lost without it. This is just the same with e.g most Objectivists who also follow and worship books and "iconic persons". However, people who are lucky enough to be allowed to develop freely and with an open mind, more than often become very strong mentally because they learn in more practical terms from their own life and surroundings. To propel oneself much further, it helps to understand deeper thoughts and meanings of our actions - where philosophy comes into the picture. However, many use religion as a form for suppressive social control - especially WITHIN families. Religion as a form for aligning, polarizing and controlling society is absolutely repugnant.