Einstein Letter: Belief In God "Childish," Jews Not Chosen People

[David Morris]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/14/einstein-letter-belief-in_n_101626.html

Albert Einstein described belief in God as "childish superstition" and
said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London
this week, an auctioneer said Tuesday.

The father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion
have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the
comments in response to a philosopher in 1954.

As a Jew himself, Einstein said he had a great affinity with Jewish
people but said they "have no different quality for me than all other
people".

"The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product
of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still
primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.

"No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this," he
wrote in the letter written on January 3, 1954 to the philosopher Eric
Gutkind, cited by The Guardian newspaper.