Friday, March 29, 2024
ADVT 
International

Einstein's Letter Rejecting God Set To Go On Sale

IANS, 03 Dec, 2018 01:35 PM
    A handwritten letter from physicist Albert Einstein in which he explicitly rejected God and religion is set to be auctioned at Christie's auction house in New York City on Tuesday for the second time since he wrote it a year before his death.
     
     
    Einstein wrote the infamous "God letter" to German philosopher Eric Gutkind in 1954 who had written a book called "Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt" that, apparently, Einstein did not like.
     
     
    His letter, written in German, caused a sensation when it first went public at an auction sale in 2008. The letter is now expected to sell for between $1 million and $1.5 million, according to a statement from Christie's cited by the New York Times.
     
     
    "The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish," Einstein wrote. 
     
     
    "No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can (for me) change anything about this."
     
     
    He began his letter by praising Gutkind for sharing a common impulse of "striving for the improvement and refinement of existence", but soon took issue with Gutkind's religious ideals.
     
     
    In the letter, Einstein turned a critical eye towards his own Jewish identity, specifically questioning the assertion that Jews were "chosen people".
     
     
    "The Jewish people to whom I gladly belong, and in whose mentality I feel profoundly anchored, still for me does not have any different kind of dignity from all other peoples," he wrote. 
     
     
    "As far as my experience goes, they are in fact no better than other human groups, even if they are protected from the worst excesses by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot perceive anything 'chosen' about them."
     
     
    The God letter seems to outline Einstein's view of formal religion and the idea of a God who plays an active part in everyday life, answering individual prayers. 
     
     
    "He did not believe in a God who went around choosing favourite sports teams or people," said Walter Isaacson, the author of the 2007 biography "Einstein". 
     
     
    But according to experts, at other times Einstein described himself as "not an atheist" and the letter does not annul the seemingly spiritual characteristics of his thinking.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Canadian Astronaut Says Launch Most Dangerous Part Of Upcoming Space Mission

    Canadian Astronaut Says Launch Most Dangerous Part Of Upcoming Space Mission
    MONTREAL — Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques is bracing for some tense moments during next Monday's launch of the Soyuz rocket that will send him and two others to the International Space Station.

    Canadian Astronaut Says Launch Most Dangerous Part Of Upcoming Space Mission

    Trump Derides Lawyer Michael Cohen As 'Weak Person' After Bombshell Guilty Plea

    Trump Derides Lawyer Michael Cohen As 'Weak Person' After Bombshell Guilty Plea
    WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump is deriding Michael Cohen as a "weak person" after his former lawyer's bombshell admission that he lied to Congress last year about an abandoned plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

    Trump Derides Lawyer Michael Cohen As 'Weak Person' After Bombshell Guilty Plea

    Navjot Sidhu Can Win Election Even In Pakistan: Imran Khan

    The corridor made headlines in August after the Punjab Cabinet minister and Congress leader visited Pakistan to attend Prime Minister Khan’s swearing-in ceremony.

    Navjot Sidhu Can Win Election Even In Pakistan: Imran Khan

    UK Bus Company Fined For Fatal Crash By Indian-Origin Driver Kailash Chander

    UK Bus Company Fined For Fatal Crash By Indian-Origin Driver Kailash Chander
    A bus company in the UK has been fined 2.3 million pounds for significant health and safety failings in allowing a fatigued Indian-origin driver to carry on driving that led to a crash causing the deaths of two people.

    UK Bus Company Fined For Fatal Crash By Indian-Origin Driver Kailash Chander

    Sikhs In America Hail Indian Govt’S Decision To Build Kartarpur Corridor

    Sikhs In America Hail Indian Govt’S Decision To Build Kartarpur Corridor
    The Sikhs in America have hailed the Indian government’s decision to build a religious corridor linking border district of Gurdaspur with historic Kartarpur Sahib gurudwara in Pakistan—fulfilling a long pending demand of the community.

    Sikhs In America Hail Indian Govt’S Decision To Build Kartarpur Corridor

    Pak Will Never Again Fight 'Imposed Wars' On Its Territory: Imran Khan

    Imran Khan's remarks came days after Trump reiterated that the USD 1.3 billion in aid to Pakistan will remain suspended until the country acts against militant safe heavens inside its territory.

    Pak Will Never Again Fight 'Imposed Wars' On Its Territory: Imran Khan