Kate, I agree. You get that Einstein was a genius, and part of that is expressed in his being a masterful diplomat who had to express his thoughts with exquisite subtlety (if only due to being German Jew who had to escape for safety in America due to widespread Nazi persecution of Jews).
While being an observant Jew would have been bad enough, openly being an atheist for Jehovah God (which he was) was as even far greater of a crime, and being an intellectual was a far-worse crime. As such, he would say things like "I believe in Spinoza's God", knowing that most listeners would latch onto the "I believe in God" part, and never bother to investigate what Spinoza's beliefs actually were.
The cynic would call it intentional obfuscation on Einstein's part, whereas the pragmatist would recognize it as an example of Einstein telling people what they wanted to hear, knowing they'd apply their pre-existing filters to hear what they want to hear in his words.
You even cited another example of Einstein using hyperbole in a humorous way:
After listening to a musician playing he stated out loud "Now I believe there is a God in heaven!"
Clearly it would be flattery for an atheist to profess believing in God after hearing a moving performance, but it is obviously intended as hyperbole, since Einstein wasn't a frivolous illogical emotionally-driven man prone to such emotional sways as music (even though he was aware of the power and enjoyment found in music, as I do, as well, as an experienced musician).
Kate said- Einstein was ambiguous and vague, but he denied being an atheist that we know.
Yes, and even there, he expressed contempt for atheists after witnessing the example of how they were treated (esp such open atheists as Sigmund Freud, a fellow German/Austrian Jewish intellectual who faced much difficulty for his open atheism; Einstein certainly witnessed the dangers of speaking one's mind openly in WW II, and Einstein didn't need to be told twice, since he was able to learn from the examples of others in a time when many people were killing each other due to volatile disagreements).
Point being, there's many reasons behind why someone makes a certain profession of their belief or non-belief, and the only thing we can go on is their own words.
In fact, I'm not even sure if he was speaking of atheism in terms of his own "cosmic religion", as well, which he felt was the way of the future.... I'd have to go back and re-read the speech he delivered in context, or the essay that was printed in the NY Times, or the words he expressed denouncing atheists. I often say I'm an atheist for the God of the Abrahamic religions, but cannot conclusively state that higher beings (that some might describe as 'Godlike') don't exist somewhere in the Universe.
(And when you think of it, we must seem Godlike in our powers as seen from the perspective of rodents. Do we or should we deserve their worship? Obviously not, since that would be silly....)
Kate said- In conclusion Adam, I concede, I get your point and I will be more genuine and open in future. Okay?
And thank you for acknowledging the issue, as that shows a sign of growth on your part.
Adam (but no kisses for you back!)
