Talk:List of atheists (surnames E to G)

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While Einstein was certainly no lover of supernatural theism, he was not an atheist. True, he decried the belief in a personal god as overly anthropomorphic and childish, yet the dismissal of a God who answers prayers and doles out rewards and punishments in an afterlife need not be equated with atheism. There are many deeply religious people who share Einstein’s discomfort with such beliefs. Einstein expressly rejected the label “atheist” as ardently as he spurned those who claimed him to be a theist. He greatly admired the pantheistic overtones of the 17th century rationalist philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Like Spinoza, who also was Jewish, Einstein seems to have imagined God to be the whole of all that is and apprehended God in the marvelous workings of nature. This apprehension engendered in Einstein a deep admiration for the unity and beauty of nature, which he considered to be part of a vibrant spirituality that, far of eviscerating his scientific mind, only served to innervate science with a deep sense of awe and profundity. Consider the following:

"Then there are the fanatical atheists whose intolerance is the same as that of the religious fanatics, and it springs from the same source . . . They are creatures who can't hear the music of the spheres." (The Expanded Quotable Einstein, Princeton University Press, 2000 p. 214)

"In the view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognise, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what makes me really angry is that they quote me for support for such views." (The Expanded Quotable Einstein, Princeton University Press, p. 214)

"What separates me from most so-called atheists is a feeling of utter humility toward the unattainable secrets of the harmony of the cosmos." (Albert Einstein to Joseph Lewis, Apr. 18, 1953)

"I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know his thoughts. The rest are details." (The Expanded Quotable Einstein, Princeton University Press, 2000 p.202)

"It is very difficult to elucidate this [cosmic religious] feeling to anyone who is entirely without it. . . The religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by this kind of religious feeling, which knows no dogma and no God conceived in man's image; so that there can be no church whose central teachings are based on it ... In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are receptive to it." (The Expanded Quotable Einstein, Princeton University Press, p. 207)

"I see a pattern, but my imagination cannot picture the maker of that pattern. I see a clock, but I cannot envision the clockmaker. The human mind is unable to conceive of the four dimensions, so how can it conceive of a God, before whom a thousand years and a thousand dimensions are as one?" (The Expanded Quotable Einstein, Princeton University Press, 2000 p. 208)

"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism." (Albert Einstein)

"I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings." (Albert Einstein, responding to Rabbi Herbert Goldstein who had sent Einstein a cablegram bluntly demanding "Do you believe in God?" Quoted from Victor J. Stenger, Has Science Found God? 2001, chapter 3.)

Edison an atheist?
What are the criteria for inclusion? Edison made a number of very clear statements that seemed to refute theism quite broadly, so I was surprised that he is not included here. Is he classified as some sort of lesser agnostic? Shanen (talk) 06:13, 24 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Edison was a Deist and not an atheist.Griswaldo (talk) 11:51, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

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"List of atheists, agnostics and other nontheists (surnames E to G)" listed at Redirects for discussion
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