Some of Einstein's Writings on Science and Religion

"I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals Himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings."

Albert Einstein

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EINSTEIN WAS INFLUENCED BY SPINOZA

	BECOMING A FREETHINKER AND A SCIENTIST Einstein's account of how he rejected conventional religion on entering his teens.
	On Prayer, Purpose, and the Soul Excerpts from Einstein's letters on the futility of prayer, the lack of purpose in Nature, and on the questions of the purpose of life and the immortality of the soul.
	No Personal God Excerpts from Einstein's letters wherein he disclaims any belief in a personal God
	WEANING HUMANKIND FROM THE PERSONAL GOD Give up the idea of a personal God in favor of cultivating the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in humanity itself.
	Einstein on the Mysterious "The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamentalemotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science."
	THE RELIGIOUSNESS OF SCIENCE There is a religious motive for doing science, but it does not entail a belief in a personal God.
	The Development of Religion There is a common element to all religious experience, although it is seldom found in a pure form. Einstein calls it "cosmic religious feeling." He says of such cosmic religious feeling that "it is very difficult to elucidate this feeling to anyone who is entirely without it, especially as there is no anthropomorphic conception of God corresponding to it."
	SCIENCE AND RELIGION Einstein's definition of the proper realms of science and religion.
	Religion and Science: Irreconcilable? There is no necessary conflict between science and religion if the nature of religion is properly understood.
	CONVERSATION ON RELIGION AND ANTISEMITISM A conversation between Einstein and Peter A. Bucky that nicely summarizes Einstein's views on science and religion.

Some Related Aspects of Einstein's Philosophy

• MORALS AND EMOTIONS Separating morality from religion.
  
   
• Excerpts from The World as I see it. On the meaning of life, Einstein's world view, and good and evil.
  
   
• Einstein's Credo A short summary of Einstein's approach to life.
  
   
• Einstein's Faith A short summary of Einstein's faith as seen by Abraham Pais, a contemporary physicist and friend of Einstein's.
  
   
• Einstein's Last Thoughts as described in Roland Clark's biography
  
   
• Short Quotations on the subject of religion and God.
  
   

For links to more Einstein material, see Albert Einstein Online.

Editorial comments in this section on Einstein are by Prof. Arnold V. Lesikar, Physics Dept., St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN 56301-4498. He would appreciate any feedback or comments. lesikar@stcloudstate.edu