Einstein’s Religious Beliefs Stirs Diverse Opinions from Various Denominations

Professor Albert Einstein’s view of religion, as expressed in an article in the New York Times a week ago Sunday, is still the subject of discussion among many religious leaders throughout the United States. In reply to a questionnaire sent by the Times to various ministers, asking them whether or not they agree with Einstein, replies from the following are printed in last Sunday’s issue of the paper: Rev. Robert Norwood, Rev. Daniel A. Poling, Rev. Ignatius W. Cox, Rabbi Nathan Krass, Rev. S. Parkes Cadman, Rev. A. Edwin Keigwin, Rev. John Haynes Holmes and Rev. Harry F. Ward.

Rev. Cox, a Catholic and professor of philosophy at Fordham University, finds that the cosmic religion of Einstein is no religion at all. All the others, while quarreling with Einstein on certain points, nevertheless find his views on religion stimulating.

“The religion of Albert Einstein will not be approved by certain sectarians,” Dr. Krass says, “but it must and will be approved by the Jews. Judaism never shackled its devotees with a creed and never insisted on measuring with a yardstick the thoughts of its followers. As long as a man believes that human service is the goal of mankind he should be deemed a Jew.

“Einstein has no sense of religion in the sense the professional religionist uses the term, nor even in the sense of the peasant, but his cosmic sense of awe at the mystery of the universe is but a modern translation of the songs of the early Biblical psalmists. This metaphysical base of religion, this quest of the ultimate, is present in the devout as well as in the scientist.”

Dr. Felix Adler, founder and leader of the Society for Ethical Culture, on the other hand challenged Einstein’s view of religion. In a sermon on Sunday Dr. Adler declared that Einstein’s article revealed the mind of a mathematical physicist and not of a religious philosopher, and that for this reason the article was unconvincing.