In 1954, in a much-debated letter we featured here back in October, Einstein wrote, ‘The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still purely primitive, legends which are nevertheless pretty childish’. Today we have another of Einstein’s letters, again concerning religion and equally as outspoken, but written four years previous – in 1950 – to a Morton Berkowitz.

Transcript follows.

Transcript

October 25, 1950

Mr. Morton Berkowitz

365 New York Ave.

Brooklyn N.Y.

Dear Mr. Berkowitz:

I felt very grateful receiving your kind letter of October 24th. Such utterances are the finest reward for an author.

My position concerning God is that of an agnostic. I am convinced that vivid consciousness of the primary importance of moral principles for the betterment and enoblement of life does not need the idea of a law-giver, especially a law-giver who works on the basis of reward and punishment

I am sending you under separate cover two books of mine containing occasional writings where you will find more about this subject.

Sincerely yours,

(Signed, ‘A. Einstein.’)

Albert Einstein.