Einstein's God

In the past, a lot of Christians have pegged Einstein as a religious man. The rationale is that clearly, if a scientist of Einstein's stature believes in God, then it brings a certain credibility to the religion that the typical "have faith" argument cannot. If Einstein understands the laws of the universe in mathematical terms, then clearly his "belief" in God would be based on similar rational grounds. Wrong.

Richard Dawkins discusses this at the start of his latest book, The God Delusion, because he believes it's important to debunk this "myth" (amongst a few others) of Einsteinian religion right from the onset. Dawkins discusses Einstein's use of the term "God" not in the supernatural religious sense, but rather a sort of archetype to explain his "admiration for the structure of the so far as our science can reveal it." Dawkins quotes Einstein:

I am a deeply religious nonbeliever. This is a somewhat new kind of religion.

I have never imputed to Nature a purpose or a goal, or anything that could be understood as anthropomorphic. What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility. This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.

The idea of a personal God is quite alien to me and seems even naive.

This is interesting to me because it sort of vocalizes a feeling which I've had in the past. This is the same feeling that I get -- and I'm sure others can identify with -- when I hike or spend time in the wilderness. When you are completely isolated from technology, society, and everything else that blinds us from Nature's reality, it's almost a shock to go back to the pure essential roots of it all. After spending so much effort climbing a mountain, I am typically left speechless at the sheer beauty, vastness, and complexity of the nature which surrounds me. There is a feeling of having conquered the world, being on top and looking all around you at this incredible view, and yet you feel completely powerless and perplexed in front of it all. This is, for me, a deeply religious experience which has nothing to do with belief or religious institutions. It is religion in the Einsteinian sense described here -- as a metaphysical connection to the great unknown.