The Surprising Spirituality of Humanity’s Greatest Mind
Einstein – one of the few human beings who known by a single name.
Who else is so famous they get by with only one name?
We’ve also got Oprah, Madonna, Prince, Jesus, Cher, Britney…. That’s it, that’s all I’ve got.
Back to the main man himself, Einstein.
I have long admired the great scientist for his intellectual honesty and commitment to the betterment of humanity. After recently reading I Am a Part of Infinity: The Spiritual Journey of Albert Einstein by Kieran Fox, I was inspired to share a brief snapshot of the misconceptions and truths surrounding Einstein’s religiosity and worldview.
All grown Up: Humanity no longer needs religion
medium.com
Was Einstein Christian?
The question of whether Albert Einstein was a Christian resurfaces regularly. Many continue to believe that he was. But for anyone who spends time reviewing the literature of his life, the answer becomes clear: Einstein explicitly rejected the Christian conception of God.
For Christianity, Einstein as a believer would have conferred enormous intellectual clout. The belief that the most famous scientific mind in history also held Christian faith offered deep reassurance — especially to those feeling doubt, or sensing a growing tension between science and religion. If Einstein believed, then surely faith, and the Almighty, must be secure.
For some, the mere mention of the word God, even when explicitly qualified, was enough to suggest Christianity. One of the most egregious misattributions came from the line, “The more I study science, the more I believe in God.”When this was reported, Einstein immediately distanced himself from it, aware that such phrasing would be misunderstood.
The cultural desire to recruit famous thinkers was not unique to Einstein or his era. It appeared again when Christopher Hitchens died in 2015. A staunch non-believer throughout his lifetime, Hitchens openly worried that critics or the press would claim he had experienced a deathbed conversion to Christianity. If a polemicist like Hitch could be converted to religion, then anyone could be. Predictably, such claims emerged and, given their self-serving nature, are widely regarded as myth.
If not religion, then what?
How the non-religious find meaning & purpose in lifemedium.com
Einstein & Judaism
Einstein was born into a secular Jewish family, in 1879. In American and British media, Einstein’s Jewish heritage was often downplayed in favour of a default Christianised interpretation of his views. Einstein, very aware of this trend, often complained publicly that he was being misrepresented.
Einsteins relationship to Judaism was largely cultural, ethical, and political, but not religious. In his address to the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London (1934), he said, “Judaism, in its spiritual sense, has little to do with dogma or ritual. It is a way of life and a way of thinking.” Being Jewish was his identity, but not his religious belief system.
Einstein on Divinity & Morality
Einstein read widely and deeply, and was unambiguous about his views on Christian doctrine. He wrote: “No matter what I read, I do not find anything in the New Testament that convinces me of the divinity of Jesus.” Einstein did not deny that a historical Jesus may have existed. What he rejected was the claim of divinity, not out of hostility, but for lack of evidence.
On morality, Einstein could not “conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind we experience in ourselves.” Yet this rejection of theology did not translate into ethical indifference.
Einstein was widely remembered as a kind and attentive man, particularly as a letter writer. Over his lifetime, he received thousands of letters from children, students, academics, and ordinary people, and he was known to make a point of replying whenever he could. Surviving correspondence shows a man of warmth, humour, and genuine care.
For Einstein, ethical behaviour did not require a god or book of commandments. He believed that “ethical behaviour should be based on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary.” From what we know of the man both privately and publicly, he certainly seemed to live by the principles he valued so highly.
The Day I Quit God
And Joined the Spiritual Philosophically Agnostic Science Enthusiasts Clubmedium.com
Einstein’s God
Despite the press’ repeated attempted to misrepresent his views, throughout his lifetime, he repeatedly clarified his position on religion and God.
In his 1929 letter to Rabbi Goldstein, he wrote:
“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.”
Spinoza’s God did not listen to human prayers, intervene in worldly problems, reward good deeds, or punish sin. In fact, Spinoza’s God was not anthropomorphic at all, but identical with Nature itself. For Spinoza, and later for Einstein, the term God referred to the underlying order of reality: the laws, structures, and conditions through which everything we experience emerges and unfolds. God is not in the universe per se; rather, God is the universe. Its coherence, structure, beauty, and the source of our awe and wonder. There are no judgments, no sin, and no hell, only necessity, order, and understanding.
Belief in such a universal, natural God freed Einstein from superstition. Morality was instead grounded in a conscious desire to act well toward humanity and the Earth, guided by empathy rather than religious creed.
Final Thoughts
So who was Einstein?
He wasn’t a Christian, and he didn’t practice Judaism as a religion. He identified as Jewish in a cultural and ethical sense rather than a theological one.
Given his vocal support of Spinoza’s conception of God as Nature, could we, in today’s language, describe him as a kind of spiritual pantheist? Nope, even that may not be entirely fair or accurate. Besides, he isn’t here to rebut the suggestion after all.
But, if he were alive, I suspect I’d receive a letter in the post gently advising me to avoid labels altogether. And I would cherish it forever.
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