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Zippo
Posts: 1511
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Einstein: Nothing 'chosen' about the Jews, Bible 'childish' legends
By Bradley Burston, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Judaism, Bible, God, Einstein
Albert Einstein, writing in 1954, dismissed Judaism and other religions as "an incarnation of the most childish superstitions," though he said he gladly belonged to the Jewish people and felt a deep affinity for the Jews' "mentality," excerpts published on Tuesday showed.
Einstein also said he saw nothing "chosen" about the Jews, and that they were no better than other peoples "although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power."
The renowned physicist, who died a little more than a year after writing the letter, also had tough words for God and the Bible, according to the text published by the British The Guardian daily.
"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," the letter was quoted as saying. "No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."
The letter, written in German in January, 1954 to philosopher Eric Gutkind, is to be auctioned in London on Thursday, the paper said. Written in Einstein's hand, the letter, which has been in private hands for more than half a century, reportedly could sell for as much as 8,000 pounds sterling.
Turning to Judaism, Einstein wrote that "For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people.
"As far as my experience goes, they are also no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/983001.html |
"Einstein: Nothing 'chosen' about the Jews..."
I suppose Einstein was a selfhating Jew? 
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maporsche
Posts: 2762
Location: Chicago Suburbs
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brahmin
Posts: 1196
Location: Over the Hills and Far Away
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if they arnt so chosen then how do you explain their many achievements spanning many walks of lives, over many centuries and against the most bitter circumstances. read history. the history of the world to a great extent is the history of the jews.
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Wolf_ODonnell
Posts: 2605
Location: England
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| brahmin wrote: |
| if they arnt so chosen then how do you explain their many achievements spanning many walks of lives, over many centuries and against the most bitter circumstances. read history. the history of the world to a great extent is the history of the jews. |
Yes, because we all know that Christopher Columbus, the inventor of gunpowder, Marco Polo, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Josef Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, the Wright Brothers, Alexander Fleming, Professor Christiaan Barnard, Dr. Ernest Rutherford, Werner Heisenberg and many more were all Jews.
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McTag
Posts: 14867
Location: North-West England
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Come on now, Wolf and others, fair's fair. They are remarkably gifted and talented, you've got to allow that.
Just probably not God's chosen people, that's all.
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agrote
Posts: 1620
Location: England
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| brahmin wrote: |
| if they arnt so chosen then how do you explain their many achievements spanning many walks of lives, over many centuries and against the most bitter circumstances. |
The same way that you explain the many achievements of black people spanning many walks of lives, over many centuries and against the most bitter circumstances.
The same way that you explain the many achievements of scientists spanning many walks of lives, over many centuries and against the most bitter circumstances.
The same way that you explain the many achievements of antelope spanning many walks of lives, over many centuries and against the most bitter circumstances.
The same way you explain the many achievements of salmon spanning many rivers, swimming against the strongest currents.
There's nothing to be explained. Lots of people do impressive things, some of them happen to be Jews. Lots of people die in childhood or end up homeless, and some of them happen to be Jews.
The history of the world to a great extent is the history of the salmon.
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brahmin
Posts: 1196
Location: Over the Hills and Far Away
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| Wolf_ODonnell wrote: |
| brahmin wrote: |
| if they arnt so chosen then how do you explain their many achievements spanning many walks of lives, over many centuries and against the most bitter circumstances. read history. the history of the world to a great extent is the history of the jews. |
Yes, because we all know that Christopher Columbus, the inventor of gunpowder, Marco Polo, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Josef Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, the Wright Brothers, Alexander Fleming, Professor Christiaan Barnard, Dr. Ernest Rutherford, Werner Heisenberg and many more were all Jews. |
count the number of jewish nobel laureates, political thinkers, grand masters, business tycoons, political leaders, inventors, writers, musicians....
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brahmin
Posts: 1196
Location: Over the Hills and Far Away
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| agrote wrote: |
| brahmin wrote: |
| if they arnt so chosen then how do you explain their many achievements spanning many walks of lives, over many centuries and against the most bitter circumstances. |
The same way that you explain the many achievements of black people spanning many walks of lives, over many centuries and against the most bitter circumstances.
The history of the world to a great extent is the history of the salmon. |
right.... so how many black nobel laureates?
grand masters??
right about the salmon too... famous salmons include abraham, jesus, frued, marx, einstein, gell mann, milton friedman....
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brahmin
Posts: 1196
Location: Over the Hills and Far Away
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| McTag wrote: |
Come on now, Wolf and others, fair's fair. They are remarkably gifted and talented, you've got to allow that.
Just probably not God's chosen people, that's all. |
what then explains their being on top in so many walks of life??
what explains their having survived the chaldeans, egyptians, romans, greeks, persians, european pogroms, inquisitions, the holoaust??
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Wolf_ODonnell
Posts: 2605
Location: England
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| McTag wrote: |
Come on now, Wolf and others, fair's fair. They are remarkably gifted and talented, you've got to allow that.
Just probably not God's chosen people, that's all. |
The point I was trying to make is that brahmin's comment was egotistical and untrue. He is trying to give all the credit for the world's greatest achievements to the Jews. Talented as they may be, that is just ridiculous.
Jews did not invent airplanes, discover penicillin, perform the first heart transplant, they did not discover Evolution, they were not the first to the South Pole or North Pole, they were not the inventors of the first computer, they did not invent the steam engine, they did not invent gunpowder, they did not invent the magnetic compass, they did not discover America or Australia, they did not invent algebra, they did not come up with the number system we use today, they did not invent the printing press etc.
The list goes on.
To say that the History of the World is to a great extent, Jewish history, is arrogance of a high order. Sure, there's a lot of influential Jewish people in history, but do you really imagine that their input outnumbers that of other peoples? Are their findings more important than other peoples?
Not to mention that many of these important Jewish people happened to be immigrants. Perhaps their achievements had nothing to do with their Jewishness, but more to do with their status as immigrants. People who don't belong.
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 9:50 am 
