Coupling of science and religion

Vancouver Sun ^ | October 28, 2008 | Peter McKnight

[Soliton]

In May 2008, Bloomsbury auctions announced the sale of a letter by Albert Einstein, in which the famed physicist railed against religious beliefs as "childish superstitions . . . the expression and product of human weaknesses."

The letter was something of a curiosity, not because it suggested Einstein harboured a certain hostility toward religion, but because the sentiments it expressed seemed markedly at odds with Einstein's much friendlier public pronouncements about religion, including an exceptionally famous quote about the relationship between science and religion: "Religion without science is lame; science without religion is blind."

Since Einstein's letter was a private affair, it might well have been a more accurate reflection of his true attitude toward religion than his public comments. And the revelation of the great scientist's less than hospitable views toward religion served as a blow to people who maintained that science and religion are compatible, and who often quoted Einstein's words in support of that thesis.

Adherents of this view of science and religion were probably too enthused at the prospect of having the most famous scientist since Isaac Newton on their side. After all, Einstein clearly did not believe in theism, the theory of a transcendent, personal God promoted by the Abrahamic faiths -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

[Soliton]

"Despite these and other examples, the notion that science and religion are fundamentally and inescapably at odds with each other is a relatively recent one, and has never been more dominant than today"

[rusureitflies?]

Why a conflict? It seems we need to “win” to be right. Not so, there is only one end. .
Discern for yourself, love thy neighbor as thyself... and don’t mess with his stuff .

[Aliska]

Odd that they would preface it with:

'An hour's study of nature is worth a year's prayer.' - Prophet Mohammed

The full quote and more is here:

Belief in God a 'product of human weakness':Einstein letter

Just google in quotes ""the expression and product of human weaknesses", and you will get pages of hits

I guess Marx really wrote this:

"Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions."
Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right

Seventy years under repressive, atheistic communism didn't succeed in stamping out the religion of the people in Russia.

[hellbender]

Some motley comments:

1)The scientific achievements of Islamic culture were probably largely due the Muslim conquest and absorption of highly cultured and advanced civilizations (Persia and Byzantium) and contact with other sophisticated cultures (India and China).

2) Some have attributed the decline of Islamic civilization to aristocide perpetrated during the Mongol & Tartar conquests.

3) The letter dates from late in Einstein's life, long after his great achievements in physics.

4) While a genius in physics, Einstein showed no evidence of similar deep and original thinking regarding human culture, where his letter seems to be basically an echo of the rationalist, positivist, materialist ideas which dominated the intelligentsia in which he was reared.