Einstein's Belief in The Creator

The web has been buzzing over the recently released and auctioned letter, written by Albert Einstein, that seemingly has him denouncing religion in all forms. "In the note, written the year before his death, Einstein dismissed the idea of God as the product of human weakness and the Bible as "pretty childish." He went on to say that the Jews are not chosen people and are no more or less extraordinary than the rest of the human race." (The Huffington Post)


Many media outlets have used this letter to bolster the claim that Einstein dismissed the idea of a Universal Creator. The is misleading at best, and a complete fabrication at worst. I posted before concerning Einstein's belief in a Cosmic Religion. Einstein said, "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God."

He certainly dismissed the idea of a personal god. Einstein's letter and many other written articles make it clear that he thinks we must look past what he terms as earthly religion, and what Deists refer to as revealed religion. "I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own - a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. It is enough for me to contemplate the mystery of conscious life perpetuating itself through all eternity, to reflect upon the marvelous structure of the universe which we can dimly perceive and to try humbly to comprehend even an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifested in Nature."

I think that we are slowly, but surely, moving past the idea that God refers to the idea of the revealed religion, a god in our image. The Creator is not a personal god, and the sooner the traditional media outlets discover and embrace this idea the better. We must change our perception of what it means to believe in the Cosmic Religion, or to follow the path of religious philosophies such as Deism. Einstein understood that science and religion will forever remain intertwined. In fact the said, "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." This statement could only be made by a man who has a deep understanding for the intricacies of nature and the dramatic patterns and laws established by the creator. It is time for news agencies like CNN, Fox, NY Times, etc, to move past the idea of correlating god, or the Creator, to revealed religions. We need to embrace the ideas of men such as Einstein and his statements proclaiming the obviousness of an impersonal Universal Creator.

"The scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation. His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that , compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection."

Take it upon yourselves to remind people to broaden their perceptions. To understand that nature refers to the vastness of space and time, not just trees and animals. Remind them that the true Creator of the universe is not a personal god who listens to our prayers and inflicts painful and wrathful vengence upon humankind.

Einstein Quotes from Deism.com

New Content Contributor - Dan Mesmer

In keeping with the idea of expanding the content I would like to send out a warm welcome to the newest content contributor of Deism For the Modern Mind, Dan Mesmer. I will let Dan introduce himself via a post in the near future.

But, for now, just know that this is a great step in the right direction for this blog. As our readership and content expands more individuals will not only learn and experience Deism, but also learn more about themselves and society in general. And, hopefully, this leads to people living happier and fuller lives. This may seem like a bit of a reach for a blog, but to me it seems like the only logical way to help improve our society, and hopefully people enjoy doing it in the process.

Welcome aboard Dan, and I am glad to have you here.

You can also visit Dan's Website at Deist Links or checkout his Blogger Profile

Current Timeline of Our Universe

This supposedly shows the expansion of our Universe since the occurrence of the Big Bang. It is interesting to see that science has evolved enough to begin piecing together the significant points in the Universe's History. This is allowing us to create some pretty exciting images of what is took for the universe to get to this point. I am sure that this model will change many times in the near future.

Let me know how you would change this model to reflect new scientific theories.

Saturday Morning Humor

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The Rise and Ebb of Higher Thought

This post is in keeping with my redirection of this blog. Learning about the rich history of Deism is going to be an adventure that will explain why reason, above all else, is the key to understanding our role within nature. The writings of the English Deism period are especially helpful in understanding why and how the idea of Deism finally stepped into the light. The basic principles of Deism existed since the time of Plato, but took centuries to finally gather a significant following. Why?

The role of government, economy, ethics, and morality played a large role in the development of Deism. Deism needs a time or area in history when higher thinking is prevalent. During times of oppressive government or economic decline it is hard to imagine people spending time progressing advanced thought. These people simply try to survive. The Great American Depression, The Middle Ages, and the Fall of Nineveh are some examples of these dreadful times. However, each of these periods are followed by great times of renaissance.

Like I stated before, History flows and ebbs in cycles. Society and higher thought is not immune to this idea. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a prime example of the requirement of stability in order to have higher thought processes. People cannot achieve self-actualization without fulfilling the requirements of their basic physiological needs.

What does all of this really mean? It means that we use times like we are currently living to advance ideas, such as Deism, to our fullest extent possible in order for them to survive the inevitable instability that is coming. Governments will fall, economies will crumble, and wars will ravage the planet. All these things are inevitable. Perhaps we can learn from our past just enough to advance humankind far enough so that the next "dark age" will not be quite so dark. This ideal is in keeping with a basic English Deistic view. Humans need to rely on themselves. This is the idea of Humanism.

"Deism is not generally thought of as a type of humanism, but it did play an important role in the development of humanist thinking in Europe. Deism supported the growing idea that humans should rely upon themselves first and foremost...For deists, the universe was believed to be rational and ordered because that is how God wanted it to be; God, in turn, is also a rational being with rational desires, rational goals, and rational methods which are understandable through human reason." read more By Austin Cline

By relying on ourselves and not some make believe friend we call God, humankind can increase the value of our species and use reason to prolong the higher points of society and lessen the impact during the dark times. The Creator set in motion the laws that govern what we see. Nature has observable patterns that clearly show the careful designs of intelligent thought. These laws are what set in motion the cycles that all of nature and humankind must endure, but these cycles also maintain the balance of nature. It is through Deism that we learn of these cycles and can begin to understand them.

"When Ethan Allen stated that he did not believe in the Christian doctrine of original sin he was told that without original sin there is no need for Christianity. After reflection Allen agreed, there is no need for Christianity, he reasoned." From Deism.com

It is reason and logic such as this that will help prolong our periods of prosperity, and limit the influence of superstition and thoughtless dogmas that led to the downfall of countless Empires and Civilizations.

Returning to Deism's Roots

In an effort to add more content to my blog, I will be broadening the scope a bit on what kind of items I will post on the blog. The majority of my posts will still pertain the Deism. But I also want to expand my posts to include historical facts and content.

Let's face it. Deism has a rich historical past. Frequently in my posts I try to relate events and ideas of today to things that have happened in our past. I am a believer in Cyclical History, meaning that, I believe that everything runs in cycles. Empire rise and fall, societies advance and retract, etc. A.E. van Vogt, in his book Voyage of The Space Beagle, was one of the first writers to actively support the idea of cyclic history. I will discuss this idea in more detail later because I believe that this theory has an enormous impact on the future of Deism.

It is hard to separate the historical context of Deism, or philosophy in general, without stripping it of its core meaning. From Aristotle to Paine, great figures in history have contributed to the idea that we define as Deism. However, we need to move past the labels that we apply to religion, god, and politics in order to understand some of these ideas. In the coming weeks and months I hope you enjoy some of these new posts that try to place Deism in a historical context that is in keeping with this reason based philosophy. I think that in the end we will all have more appreciation for Deism in general.

Broaden Your Perception

Sideways Galaxy NGC 3628
Credit & Copyright: Keith Quattrocchi

From Astronomy Picture of the Day

Religion in Modernity: The Solution of Civil Religion

"Civil religion was a vital part of ancient life, religion and politics were joined harmoniously. With the dawn of Christianity, a religion whose focus is not on the state primarily but on the afterlife, the world slowly began to change. Religion was often used to divide rather than unify the commonwealth. Modernity’s problem with Christianity came at the dawn of the Reformation, where Christianity was used to pull people apart and start wars between nations who share ethnic, cultural and religious ties."

By Publicola

read more | digg story

Note: It is rare to find an individual versed and educated enough to understand that the union of religion and state is possible and actually preferable in order to maintain a common sense of unity among the inhabitants of a free thinking society. Too often, people believe that by unifying church and state we will lead our children down the road of the revealed religions. We could give our children a little more credit.

The Roman Numa said, "It was important to provide the Romans with religion because without it they would have fallen victim to the brute passions of a warlike people." Does this sound familiar? Our inability to unite around a reason based religious philosophy that is in keeping with our Democratic political system is leading to social and political strife that is affecting the entire world. It is abundantly clear that revealed religions will only lead to moral and ethical division within our society that will plague the world until a reason based religious philosophy, such as Deism, can unite humankind.

Deism Podcast Episode 5 - Deism News: Front and Center

Episode 5 of The Deism Podcast is now available for download via the Deism Podcast Blog and iTunes. Click on the image above to go there now.

This episode features an article written by Robert Johnson, Director of the WUD, entitled Deism in The Battle Between Jerusalem and Athens. I apologize up front for the reading quality, we had a last minute programing change.

I would like to thank everyone for their support of this podcast. Spread the word of Deism by recommending this podcast to all of your friends and family members. Please provide any feedback or comments that you have to help us improve the show.

National Day of Reason, The First Deist Holiday?

Recently, I came across a website entitled, National Day of Reason. The site brought up a great point. Our calendar is filled with celebrations of religious holidays. In a country built on the principles of religious tolerance and religious freedom it seems absurd that we willfully celebrate and embrace the traditions of a few chosen religions, such as Christianity. The idea of separation of church and state is under attack from the relentless idea of expanding the national celebration of superstitious holidays.

A day recognized as the National Day of Reason will allow all Americans to participate in celebration around an idea that everyone should embrace, Reason.

"The way to see by Faith is to shut the Eye of Reason."
Benjamin Franklin

Franklin realized that by allowing the revealed religions take a larger role in our lives we were shutting our eyes to truth. Faith promotes the following of blind ideas, dogmas, superstitions, and celebration. Currently the American society is caught up in celebrating the resurrection and crucifiction of a man. The so called faith of the revealed religions has duped men and women in to believing in superstitous and irrational ideologies. Hardly any of us takes a step back and actually thinks about the impact of allowing these ideas to be celebrated on a national level.

I am not of the belief that these celebrations will end over night, but creating competing holidays and celebrations will lessen the impact of these irrational ideas and perhaps one day enough people will open their eyes to reason and leave behind faith. The Roman Emperor, Constantine, knew that his subjects would not abandon their pagan religions overnight. So, when he established the Christian calendar, Christian holidays were created around pagan celebrations. eventually, through the influence of the church and state, the celebration of the pagan holidays turned into Christian holidays like Christmas and Good Friday, even though the dates remained the same. I am not advocating this approach to subverting the ideologies of our society, but it does highlight the fact that change can happen. We just have to appeal to the public's sense of reason.

By establishing a National Day of Reason we can begin to reopen the eyes of individuals who are so reliant on faith, and allow then to see truth by using their God given reason.

Links:
Benjamin Franklin Quotes
Christian Holiday Origins
Pagan Christian Holidays