Hedshaker
New member
Because I just recently started participating in this thread, I have been scanning over some of the prior posts. This one caught my attention:
I have the book Ben mentions (with the proviso that the title is actually “Out of My Later Years”), and I wanted to see in context what was being said. Unless Ben’s copy is radically different than mine, the entire quote Ben attributes to Einstein is a sheer fabrication. I searched for the exact quote, to no avail. Then I made several searches for approximate content that might allow Ben’s quote to be just a paraphrase – searches using just the words “personal”, “atheist”, “believe”, and even “never”. Nothing even close was found. But here is a direct quote from the book, as Ben says, “from (Einstein’s) pen”:Originally Posted by Ben Masada View Post
Einstein was giving answer to probably an atheist who had asked him if he was an atheist. He said "never, I could never be an atheist. True that I can't believe in a personal God, but an atheist I could never be." That's from his pen in his "Of My Later Years."
In their struggle for the ethical good, teachers of religion must have the stature to give up the doctrine of a personal God, that is, give up that source of fear and hope which in the past placed such vast power in the hands of priests. In their labors they will have to avail themselves of those forces which are capable of cultivating the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in humanity itself.
Indeed, quote mining appears to be the creationists favourite sport