I got the quote from a recent book ... maybe The God Gene by Hamer? Einstein has some other interesting quotes, too. This is my favorite, from Mein Weltbild 1934
"You will hardly find one among the profounder sort of scientific minds without a religious feeling of his own. But it is different than the religiosity of the naive mind. For the latter, God is a being from whose care one hopes to benefit and one whose punishment one fears; a sublimation of a feeling similar to that of a child to its father, a being to whom one stands, so to speak, in a personal relation, however deeply it may be tinged with awe. But the scientist is possessed with a sense of universal causation. The future, to him, is every whit as necessary and determined as the past. There is nothing divine about morality; it is a purely human affair. His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection. This feeling is the guiding principle of his life and work, in so far as he succeeds in keeping himself from the shackles of selfish desire. It is beyond question closely akin to that which has possessed the religious geniuses of all ages." So I agree with Stephen that this is NOT religion as commonly understood, and the reason why 'spirituality' fits better. On a related topic, I have tentatively decided to attend Div 36's midyear conference on religion & spirituality in Columbia MD March 25 - 27. I know that most of the research in this area is on how to incorporate religion into therapy, which is not my area of interest, but I am going just to see what the division is all about. I'd be curious to know if other Tipsters will be attending. ========================== John W. Kulig Professor of Psychology Plymouth State University Plymouth NH 03264 ==================================================================== Religion without science is blind; science without religion is lame - A. Einstein ==================================================================== ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 8, 2010 10:38:55 AM Subject: Re: [tips] Is Darwin getting special treatment? I was intrigued for two reasons by this quote which John Kulig appended to his recent post: > Religion without science is blind; science without religion is lame - A. > Einstein The first reason is that claims are sometimes made that Einstein believed in God (e.g. by citing his famous quote "God does not play at dice"), and John's quote appears to confirm this. The second reason is that the Internet is rife with quotes falsely attributed to Einstein (e.g. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/328/7432/153#110192 ). So I wondered about this one. It turns out, to my surprise, to be real (from Science, Philosophy and Religion, A Symposium (1941) http://www.einsteinandreligion.com/scienceandreligion2.html ). But the context is important. Einstein notes that what he means by religion is special. His religion is not the belief in the personal God of organized religion, but the belief that the universe is understandable through the application of reason. Heck, if that's religion, even I could believe in something like that. The full quote is this: "But science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration toward truth and understanding. This source of feeling, however, springs from the sphere of religion. To this there also belongs the faith in the possibility that the regulations valid for the world of existence are rational, that is, comprehensible to reason. I cannot conceive of a genuine scientist without that profound faith. The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." He then goes on to explicitly distance himself from belief in a personal God who intervenes in human affairs, ending with this comment: "In their struggle for the ethical good, teachers of religion must have the stature to give up the doctrine of a personal God, that is, give up that source of fear and hope which in the past placed such vast power in the hands of priests." Which goes to show that a quotation can only be fully appreciated when considered in context. Stephen -------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13338.f659d005276678c0696b7f6beda66454&n=T&l=tips&o=1133 or send a blank email to leave-1133-13338.f659d005276678c0696b7f6beda66...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=1134 or send a blank email to leave-1134-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
