While some people believe in the existence of God and offers their devotion towards the deities, some people still don't find any reason to believe in something which is mythical or invisible to them. Even, the great scientists Albert Einstein once wrote in a letter that the concept of God was just an expression of human weakness nothing else and the Bible was just a collection of "primitive legends."
It is true that many experts from the scientific world believe that science cannot go side by side with supernatural beliefs, while many doctors and scientists pray to god before going to a major operation.
But, Einstein's letter to Eric Gutkind in response to the philosopher's book Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt, has raised serious debates among the believers of Christianity mostly as it stated "The word God is for me nothing but the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of venerable but still rather primitive legends. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can (for me) change anything about this."
This controversial letter was written just a year before Einstein's death in 1955. It now going to be auctioned by the auction company called Christie's in New York and this piece of writing is estimated to sell for between $1 million and $1.5 million.
The letter is believed to be the most revealing insight into Einstein's religious beliefs. The physicist, who actually belonged to a Jewish background, did not believe in the existence of God but also never described himself as an atheist.
However, prior to this letter, Einstein wrote another letter which stated, "I have repeatedly said that in my opinion, the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist. ... I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being."
In the letter to Gutkind, the world famous genius, whose theory of general relativity is still one of the pillars of modern physics, clearly wrote about how alike both they are in their thinking and specifically indicated towards what he calls their "un-American attitude."
Einstein also wrote about the Jewish religion, which according to him was "like all other religions" and he stated that it is "an incarnation of primitive superstition."
"And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong, and in whose mentality I feel profoundly anchored, still for me do not have any different kind of dignity from all other peoples. As far as my experience goes, they are in fact no better than other human groups, even if they are protected from the worst excesses by a lack of power. Otherwise, I cannot perceive anything 'chosen' about them," the letter continued.
However, the auction will take place on December 4 at around 2 pm at New York's 20 Rockefeller Center. Senior Specialist Books & Manuscripts at Christie's, Peter Klarnet said that the auction company is honoured "to present this important Albert Einstein letter at auction as it concerns themes that have been central to human enquiry since the dawn of human consciousness, and it is one of the definitive statements in the Religion vs Science debate."
Previously a huge debate was triggered over a travel journal, which belonged to Einstein that revealed some unbelievable facts about the legendary physicist. The diary was published by Princeton University Press recently and it stated that Einstein had racism issues, especially towards the people in China, as he wrote that Chinese people are ''industrious and filthy'' and Chinese children are ''spiritless and look obtuse. It would be a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races. For the likes of us, the mere thought is unspeakably dreary."
