Electronics Forum / Basics / December 2007

Thanks, Bob.  I read the page.  It gets the idea across pretty well
and accurately enough, though it is shy on quotes.  Einstein had a
personal meaning for 'religious,' quite different from the use most
carry for it.

I do imagine that Einstein may have felt that the shared positive
aspects of science and of religion might be a: "free and responsible
development of the individual, so that he may place his powers freely
and gladly in the service of all mankind."  And perhaps on that point
Eintein placed his hopes.

Probably the best part of one of his monologues on science and
religion is this one.  I'll quote it more fully because it covers this
idea of a personal god and provides enough context to get the main
idea he was trying to discuss.

  "The main source of the present-day conflicts between the
   spheres of religion and of science lies in this concept
   of a personal God. It is the aim of science to establish
   general rules which determine the reciprocal connection
   of objects and events in time and space. For these rules,
   or laws of nature, absolutely general validity is required
   -- not proven. It is mainly a program, and faith in the
   possibility of its accomplishment in principle is only
   founded on partial successes. But hardly anyone could be
   found who would deny these partial successes and ascribe
   them to human self-deception. The fact that on the basis
   of such laws we are able to predict the temporal behavior
   of phenomena in certain domains with great precision and
   certainty is deeply embedded in the consciousness of the
   modern man, even though he may have grasped very little
   of the contents of those laws. He need only consider that
   planetary courses within the solar system may be calculated
   in advance with great exactitude on the basis of a limited
   number of simple laws. In a similar way, though not with the
   same precision, it is possible to calculate in advance the
   mode of operation of an electric motor, a transmission system,
   or of a wireless apparatus, even when dealing with a novel
   development.

  "To be sure, when the number of factors coming into play in a
   phenomenological complex is too large the scientific method
   in most cases fails us. One need only think of the weather,
   in which case prediction even for a few days ahead is
   impossible. Nevertheless no one doubts that we are confronted
   with a causal connection whose causal components are in the
   main known to us.  Occurrences in this domain are beyond the
   reach of exact prediction because of the variety of factors
   in operation, not because of any lack of order in nature.

  "We have penetrated far less deeply in the regularities
   obtaining within the realm of living things, but deeply
   enough nevertheless to sense at least the rule of fixed
   necessity. One need only think of the systematic order in
   heredity, and in the effect of poisons, as for instance
   alcohol, on the behavior of organic beings. What is still
   lacking here is a grasp of connections of profound
   generality, but not a knowledge of order in itself.

  "The more a man is imbued with the ordered regularity of
   all events the firmer becomes his conviction that there is
   no room left by the side of this ordered regularity for
   causes of a different nature. For him neither the rule of
   human nor the rule of divine will exist as an independent
   cause of natural events. To be sure, the doctrine of a
   personal God interfering with natural events could never
   be refuted, in the real sense, by science, for this doctrine
   can always take refuge in those domains in which scientific
   knowledge has not yet been able to set foot.

  "But I am persuaded that such behavior on the part of
   representatives of religion would not only be unworthy but
   also fatal. For a doctrine which is able to maintain itself
   not in the clear light but only in the dark, will of
   necessity lose its effect on mankind, with incalculable harm
   to human progress.  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 vase power in the
   hands of priests. In their labors they will have to avail
   themselves of those forces which are capable of cultivating
   the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in humanity itself.
   This is, to be sure, a more difficult but an incomparably
   more worth task. After religious teachers accomplish the
   refining process indicated they will surely recognize with
   joy that true religion has been ennobled and made more
   profound by scientific knowledge."

But to be clear, Einstein also pointed out the anthropomorphic
derivations of religious ritual and response to mystery, as well as
the overriding role science plays in improving the quality of it, in a
single sentence: ".. so it seems to me that science not only purifies
the religious impulse of the dross of its anthropomorphism but also
contributes to a religious spiritualization of our understanding of
life."

Most folks, using the word 'religion' do not often mean it the way
Einstein did -- neither by way of his earlier nor later writings.  To
understand his responses and his evolution, one must actually
carefully read what he wrote and not just my quotes or anyone else's.
He writes enough, though, that most of us reading all of them will
arrive at a similar understanding.  Certainly, those with much science
training, anyway.  I'm an atheist, didn't read Einstein on this
subject until my own mid-life, and I find his comments completely
congruent with my own long-developed views.  That doesn't make him an
atheist, but he certainly isn't 'religious' in the usual meaning.

Jon