Portrait of Albert Einstein
Herman Mishkin, New York, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
The twentieth century

Albert Einstein

1879–1955
Pantheist (he spoke of "Spinoza's God")

Albert Einstein was a devout boy in a freethinking Jewish household, and at twelve he lost his "deep religiosity" to popular science books. In 1929–30, under a cardinal's charge of atheism, he declared that he believed in Spinoza's God and a "cosmic religious sense", but not in a God who rewards and punishes. In his last decades he grew harder on religion, as in the Gutkind letter of 1954. He refused to be enlisted by the atheists, whom he thought as dogmatic as the believers.

The belief timeline

18791955Faithc. 1885–c. 1890Doubtc. 1890–91 (age twelve)Declaration1929–30Revision1941–54
  1. Faith (c. 1885–c. 1890) — A secular household, a Catholic school, and a boy who observed Jewish rules and wrote hymns [5][6][7][8]
  2. Doubt (c. 1890–91 (age twelve)) — Popular science books lead him to conclude much of the Bible cannot be true [15][16][17]
  3. Declaration (1929–30) — "Spinoza's God," "I am not an Atheist," and the "cosmic religious sense" essay [35][40][45][46]
  4. Revision (1941–54) — Refuses "atheist" to the press and to believers, accepts it "from a Jesuit's viewpoint," then writes the Gutkind letter [55][57][58][65][66]
Notes to the timeline (16)
  1. [5] Reiser: the boy longed for a religious life and instruction but heard only ironic talk about dogmatic ritual, and grieved that the Jewish dietary laws were neglected — Anton Reiser (pseudonym of Rudolf Kayser, Einstein's son-in-law), Albert Einstein: A Biographical Portrait (Albert and Charles Boni, New York, 1930). Wikimedia Commons PDF "Albert Einstein, a biographical portrait - Anton Reiser, 1930.pdf"; text layer extracted to research/texts/reiser-1930.txt. PD (1930). An authorised portrait, so its inner details of the boy's religiosity carry the biographer's gloss, pp. 28–29.
  2. [6] Reiser: he wrote and set to music short songs in praise of God and sang them at home and in the street — Albert Einstein, p. 29; Walter Isaacson, "Einstein & Faith," Time, 5 April 2007 (book excerpt), content.time.com. research/texts/time-2007-isaacson-einstein-and-faith.txt.
  3. [7] His sister Maja recalled that he observed Jewish rules in every detail on his own (no pork, kosher, Sabbath) — Isaacson, "Einstein & Faith,".
  4. [8] He went to a Catholic elementary school (St Peter's), took Catholic religion lessons (Jewish teaching at home) and saw "the sameness of all religions"; he was the only Jew among about 70 pupils and enjoyed the lessons — Albert Einstein, p. 30; Isaacson, "Einstein & Faith,"; "Albert Einstein," English Wikipedia, retrieved 2026-10-14 (research/notes/wp-einstein.txt).
  5. [15] Einstein: a "deep religiosity" ended abruptly at twelve; popular science books persuaded him much in the Bible could not be true; the result was a "positively fanatic orgy of freethinking" and suspicion of authority — Albert Einstein, "Notes for an Autobiography," Saturday Review of Literature, 26 Nov. 1949, p. 9 (per Wikipedia citation); the same text is in Schilpp, Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (1949).
  6. [16] Einstein called the lost "religious paradise of youth" a first attempt to free himself from the "merely personal"; the extra-personal world "beckoned like a liberation" and the road to it he never regretted — Einstein, Albert Einstein.
  7. [17] Isaacson: the break came just as he would have prepared for a bar mitzvah; Bernstein himself saw no contradiction between science and religion — Isaacson, "Einstein & Faith,".
  8. [35] Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein cabled "Do you believe in God?"; Einstein replied in German that he believed in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God concerned with the fates and actions of human beings (cable dated 24 April 1929; NYT headline 25 April) — Jewish Telegraphic Agency Daily News Bulletin, 1929 items on Cardinal O'Connell, Louis Marshall, the Goldstein cable and the Osservatore Romano, (28 Apr. 1929); "Einstein Believes in 'Spinoza's God'," New York Times, 25 April 1929: headline and tags confirmed from a Wayback capture; the article body is paywalled and was not read, (headline only); "Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein," English Wikipedia, raw wikitext retrieved 2026-10-14 (research/notes/wp-religious-views.txt), for 24 April. Reported at second hand; the original has not been seen.
  9. [40] In the interview Einstein said it was not a question to answer with yes or no; "I am not an Atheist"; unsure he could call himself a pantheist; the library parable; fascinated by Spinoza's pantheism — G. S. Viereck, Glimpses of the Great (1930), chapter "What Life Means to Einstein," pp. 355–376 of the scanned edition, pp. 372–373.
  10. [45] "What I Believe" (Oct. 1930): the mysterious is the source of art and science; in the sense of knowing the impenetrable exists he belongs "in the ranks of devoutly religious men"; he cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes or personal survival — Albert Einstein, "What I Believe," Forum and Century 84:4 (Oct. 1930), starting p. 192 per the ProQuest header; Living Philosophies XIII.
  11. [46] "Religion and Science" (9 Nov. 1930): religion arises from fear, then from social feeling (the God of providence), and a third stage, the "cosmic religious sense," with no anthropomorphic God; heretics of all ages looked like atheists or saints; Democritus, Francis of Assisi and Spinoza are akin — Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science," New York Times Magazine, 9 Nov. 1930, pp. 1–4. Page image at.
  12. [55] Letter of 7 Aug. 1941: fanatical atheists are like slaves still feeling their chains, who cannot hear the music of the spheres — "Albert Einstein," Wikiquote, retrieved 2026-10-14 (research/notes/wikiquote-einstein.txt): used only as a map; its Misattributed and Disputed sections drive the misquotation flags, (Jammer p. 97); "Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein,".
  13. [57] To Guy Raner, 2 July 1945: "From the viewpoint of a Jesuit priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist"; 28 Sept. 1949: "You may call me an agnostic" but he does not share "the crusading spirit of the professional atheist" — "Albert Einstein,"; "Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein,", (Gilmore, Skeptic 5:2, 1997).
  14. [58] Around 1941 he told Prince Hubertus zu Löwenstein that it angered him that people who deny God quote him in support — "Albert Einstein,", (Löwenstein 1968); "Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein,", (Clark 1971 p. 425).
  15. [65] The 3 Jan. 1954 letter to Gutkind: "God" is an expression of human weaknesses, the Bible primitive legends, Jewish religion like all others childish superstition, Jews no more "chosen"; but he told Gutkind they were close in essentials (evaluating human conduct) and differed only in intellectual props — Einstein to Eric Gutkind, 3 Jan. 1954, abridged English translation by Joan Stambaugh, The Guardian, 13 May 2008,, (Stambaugh translation).
  16. [66] To the atheist Joseph Dispentiere, 24 March 1954: what was said of his religious convictions was "a lie"; he did not believe in a personal God and never denied it; if anything is religious in him it is unbounded admiration for the structure of the world — "Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein,", (Dukas 1981 p. 43).

I Believe in Spinoza's God

In April 1929 Rabbi Herbert Goldstein of New York cabled a question to Berlin, prepaid for fifty words: did Professor Einstein believe in God? The answer came back in German, in twenty-seven words: "Ich glaube an Spinozas Gott der sich in gesetzlicher Harmonie des Seienden offenbart, nicht an Gott der Sich mit Schicksalen und Handlungen der Menschen abgibt." As the Jewish Telegraphic Agency rendered it: "I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals Himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns Himself with fates and actions of human beings."123

Goldstein had asked because the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston had just accused Einstein's physics of hiding atheism. The answer satisfied neither side. Believers heard that he denied a God who answers prayer; unbelievers heard the word "God" and claimed he was one of theirs, which angered him. This chapter asks how a boy who sang his own hymns became a physicist who believed in a God that was not a person, and why he spent his last decades refusing both labels.

Albert Einstein, photographed by Mishkin in 1921.
Albert Einstein, photographed by Mishkin in 1921.Herman Mishkin, New York, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

A religious boy in a freethinking house

He was born in Ulm on 14 March 1879, and a year later the family moved to Munich.4 His parents, Hermann and Pauline Einstein, were secular Jews; his father prided himself on being a freethinker and was proud that Jewish rites were not kept at home.56 The boy went the other way. His early biographer Rudolf Kayser, writing as Anton Reiser in 1930, says that "Albert longed for a religious life and for religious instruction. But he heard only ironic and unfriendly talk about dogmatic ritual." He wrote little songs in praise of God and sang them at home and in the street, and his sister Maja remembered him keeping the Jewish dietary laws and the Sabbath on his own.78910

Einstein at the age of three, in 1882.
Einstein at the age of three, in 1882.Unknown photographer, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Albert and his sister Maja as children in Munich.
Albert and his sister Maja as children in Munich.ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

He went to a Catholic elementary school, where he was the only Jew in a class of about seventy and enjoyed the Catholic religion lessons; at home he was taught Judaism, and he saw, Reiser says, the sameness of all religions.11 One day a religion teacher brought a large nail to class and said the Jews had nailed Jesus to the cross, and the other children turned on him.12 At the Luitpold Gymnasium a rabbi's readings from Proverbs and the Ethics of the Fathers moved him so deeply that he never forgot them.1314 On his timeline, this devout childhood is his faith.

The Luitpold-Gymnasium in Munich, on a postcard of 1898.
The Luitpold-Gymnasium in Munich, on a postcard of 1898.Stadtarchiv München, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

The end at twelve

Every Thursday a poor medical student, Max Talmud, ate with the family and brought the boy Aaron Bernstein's popular science books, and later Ludwig Büchner's materialist Force and Matter.1516 In his Autobiographical Notes, written in 1946, Einstein described what followed: his deep religiosity came to an abrupt end at the age of twelve, because the science books convinced him that much in the Bible could not be true, and the result was what he called a positively fanatical orgy of freethinking and a lasting suspicion of every kind of authority.17 The loss, he wrote, was also a liberation, a first step away from the merely personal toward a world beyond it, a road he never regretted.18 It came, his biographer Walter Isaacson notes, just when he would have been preparing for his bar mitzvah.19 Reiser puts it more gently: after Büchner, "the faith of his childhood now began to waver."1620 His timeline places his doubt in that year, about 1890–91.

Max Talmud, the medical student who brought Einstein science books, about 1890.
Max Talmud, the medical student who brought Einstein science books, about 1890.E. Mulhern, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

He left school at fifteen, gave up his German citizenship, and, Reiser writes, "despite his Jewish descent he showed no adherence to it."212223 He read Kant, Schopenhauer and Hume.24 Only after the First World War did he take a positive stand on his Jewish identity, through Zionism.25 In 1920 he wrote a short poem of love for Spinoza.26

Einstein at the patent office in Bern, about 1904.
Einstein at the patent office in Bern, about 1904.Lucien Chavan; Historical Museum of Bern, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

The Cardinal and the cable

In early April 1929 Cardinal William O'Connell of Boston told a Communion breakfast that the Einstein theories were befogged and dangerous to religion. Einstein, through his wife, said the charge left him cold.2728 The Cardinal pressed on: the theory was "false in its construction, plagiaristic in its main statement and atheistic in its tendencies," and he would not say Einstein meant to destroy Christian faith, but "behind the cloak of the Einstein theory of relativity and space-time, as vaguely enunciated by him, was the ghastly spectre of atheism."29303132 The Jewish leader Louis Marshall answered that Einstein was "a true and faithful child of God who ennobles religion."3334

Cardinal William Henry O'Connell, Archbishop of Boston, in 1913.
Cardinal William Henry O'Connell, Archbishop of Boston, in 1913.Bain News Service, publisher; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (George Grantham Bain Collection), via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Goldstein's cable and Einstein's reply followed.135 A month later the Vatican's newspaper, the Osservatore Romano, praising the Cardinal, gave its verdict: "This is authentic atheism even if camouflaged as cosmic pantheism." The phrase is often credited to O'Connell; it was the Vatican paper's.3637

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency's bulletin of 28 April 1929: "Professor Einstein Declares His Faith in Spinoza's God."
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency's bulletin of 28 April 1929: "Professor Einstein Declares His Faith in Spinoza's God."Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Daily News Bulletin, JTA archive (pdfs.jta.org)

"I am not an Atheist"

That year the journalist George Sylvester Viereck interviewed him. Einstein said the reply to Goldstein "was not intended for publication," and that the question of God was "the most difficult in the world. It is not a question I can answer simply with yes or no." Then: "I am not an Atheist. I do not know if I can define myself as a Pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds." He compared humanity to a child in a vast library of books in many languages: "The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how." He was, he said, fascinated by Spinoza's pantheism.38394041424344 As a child, he added, he had been taught both the Bible and the Talmud; "I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene." Asked whether he wanted personal immortality, he answered: "No. Life, one life, is sufficient for me."45464748

George Sylvester Viereck, who interviewed Einstein in 1929, photographed in 1910.
George Sylvester Viereck, who interviewed Einstein in 1929, photographed in 1910.Bain News Service, publisher; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (George Grantham Bain Collection), via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Page 373 of Viereck's Glimpses of the Great (1930), with "I am not an Atheist."
Page 373 of Viereck's Glimpses of the Great (1930), with "I am not an Atheist."George Sylvester Viereck, Glimpses of the Great (Duckworth, Henrietta Street, London, 1930), Digital Library of India copy, Internet Archive (dli.ernet.13528)

In 1930 he set out what he did believe. In "What I Believe" he wrote that to know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, as the highest wisdom and most radiant beauty, "is at the center of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong in the ranks of devoutly religious men." But "I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation," nor that "the individual survives the death of his body."495051 In the New York Times Magazine that November, in "Religion and Science," he described a third stage of religion beyond fear and morality: "I will call it the cosmic religious sense," one that "does not involve an anthropomorphic idea of God." Its prophets, the heretics of every age, "often ... appeared to their contemporaries as atheists, but sometimes also as saints," and he named Democritus, Francis of Assisi and Spinoza together.525354 A God who rewards and punishes, he wrote, "is unthinkable" to a believer in causality.5556 His timeline places his declaration in these statements of 1929 and 1930, though what they declare is not unbelief but a religion without a personal God.

The first page of "What I Believe," Forum and Century, October 1930.
The first page of "What I Believe," Forum and Century, October 1930.Forum and Century, October 1930, Internet Archive (what-i-believe-albert-einstein-1930)
The New York Times Magazine of 9 November 1930: "Religion and Science."
The New York Times Magazine of 9 November 1930: "Religion and Science."The New York Times Magazine, 9 November 1930, p. 1 (PDF hosted by The New York Times Learning Network)

Neither camp

He left Germany for Princeton in 1933 and spent the rest of his life fending off both sides. In a letter of 1941 he wrote that fanatical atheists were like slaves who still feel their chains, and who cannot hear the music of the spheres.57 To a correspondent who reported that a Jesuit claimed to have converted him, he replied in 1945 that the story was false and that, from a Jesuit's point of view, he was and always had been an atheist; in 1949 he told the same man he might call him an agnostic, but that he did not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist.58 In the same years, the German exile Prince Hubertus zu Löwenstein reported, it angered him that people who deny God quoted him in support.59 A letter of 1950 called his position on God that of an agnostic, and one of 1952 said he was no freethinker in the usual sense, because that attitude lacked humility.6061

Then, on 3 January 1954, he answered the philosopher Eric Gutkind, who had sent him a book arguing that Judaism and science were in harmony. The word God, Einstein wrote, was for him only the expression and product of human weakness; the Bible a collection of primitive legends; Judaism, like all religions, a childish superstition; and the Jews no more chosen than any other people. Yet he told Gutkind that in their evaluation of human conduct they were close.6263 Two months later he wrote to an atheist correspondent that reports of his belief in a personal God were a lie; he had never believed in one, and if anything in him could be called religious it was his boundless admiration for the structure of the world.64 His timeline places his revision in these letters of the 1940s and 1950s: no change of belief, but a sharpening of words, harder on religion than in 1930, and still unwilling to join the atheists.

112 Mercer Street, Princeton, Einstein's home in his last years.
112 Mercer Street, Princeton, Einstein's home in his last years.Ekem, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

He died in Princeton on 18 April 1955. His body was cremated and his ashes scattered at an undisclosed place.65 The Gutkind letter was sold at auction in New York in 2018 for nearly three million dollars.66 Many of the sentences about God now attributed to him are not his: no source has been found for a "cosmic religion of the future" in Buddhism, or for "coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous."67

Baruch Spinoza, about 1665.
Baruch Spinoza, about 1665.Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbuettel (via Wikimedia Commons)

Baruch Spinoza, the philosopher whose God Einstein claimed in 1929, and who was also called an atheist by his contemporaries, has his own chapter in this book.

Footnotes

  1. Jewish Telegraphic Agency Daily News Bulletin, 1929 items on Cardinal O'Connell, Louis Marshall, the Goldstein cable and the Osservatore Romano, (28 Apr. 1929); "Einstein Believes in 'Spinoza's God'," New York Times, 25 April 1929: headline and tags confirmed from a Wayback capture; the article body is paywalled and was not read, (headline only); "Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein," English Wikipedia, raw wikitext retrieved 2026-10-14 (research/notes/wp-religious-views.txt), for 24 April. Reported at second hand; the original has not been seen. ↩ ↩2

  2. JTA Daily News Bulletin, 28 April 1929 (English as the JTA rendered it). The English is JTA's parenthetical translation; other translations differ ("Spinoza's God, Who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world"). Often misquoted with "the God of Spinoza.". ↩

  3. JTA Daily News Bulletin, 28 April 1929. ↩

  4. Anton Reiser (pseudonym of Rudolf Kayser, Einstein's son-in-law), Albert Einstein: A Biographical Portrait (Albert and Charles Boni, New York, 1930). Wikimedia Commons PDF "Albert Einstein, a biographical portrait - Anton Reiser, 1930.pdf"; text layer extracted to research/texts/reiser-1930.txt. PD (1930). An authorised portrait, so its inner details of the boy's religiosity carry the biographer's gloss, p. 24. ↩

  5. Albert Einstein, pp. 26, 28; "Albert Einstein," English Wikipedia, retrieved 2026-10-14 (research/notes/wp-einstein.txt). ↩

  6. Albert Einstein, p. 28; Walter Isaacson, "Einstein & Faith," Time, 5 April 2007 (book excerpt), content.time.com. research/texts/time-2007-isaacson-einstein-and-faith.txt. ↩

  7. Albert Einstein, pp. 28–29. ↩

  8. Albert Einstein, p. 29; Isaacson, "Einstein & Faith,". ↩

  9. Isaacson, "Einstein & Faith,". ↩

  10. Reiser, on the boy: Albert Einstein, p. 28. ↩

  11. Albert Einstein, p. 30; Isaacson, "Einstein & Faith,"; "Albert Einstein,". ↩

  12. Albert Einstein, p. 30. ↩

  13. "Albert Einstein,", (citing Stachel 2002). ↩

  14. Albert Einstein, p. 38. ↩

  15. Albert Einstein, p. 36 (unnamed student); Isaacson, "Einstein & Faith,", (name, ages). ↩

  16. Albert Einstein, p. 38. ↩ ↩2

  17. Albert Einstein, "Notes for an Autobiography," Saturday Review of Literature, 26 Nov. 1949, p. 9 (per Wikipedia citation); the same text is in Schilpp, Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (1949). ↩

  18. Einstein, Albert Einstein. ↩

  19. Isaacson, "Einstein & Faith,". ↩

  20. Reiser, on the boy: Albert Einstein, p. 38. ↩

  21. "Albert Einstein,", (citing Fölsing pp. 30–31); Albert Einstein, pp. 40–41 on Italy. ↩

  22. Albert Einstein, p. 41; "Albert Einstein,", infobox. ↩

  23. Reiser, on the teenager: Albert Einstein, p. 41. ↩

  24. Albert Einstein, p. 55. ↩

  25. Albert Einstein, p. 132. ↩

  26. "Albert Einstein," Wikiquote, retrieved 2026-10-14 (research/notes/wikiquote-einstein.txt): used only as a map; its Misattributed and Disputed sections drive the misquotation flags, (citing Jammer 1999 p. 43). ↩

  27. JTA1929, (9 Apr. 1929). ↩

  28. JTA1929, (10 Apr. 1929). ↩

  29. JTA1929, (14 Apr. 1929). ↩

  30. JTA1929, (18 Apr. 1929). ↩

  31. Cardinal William Henry O'Connell, Archbishop of Boston, letter to the Boston Evening American: JTA Daily News Bulletin, 18 April 1929. ↩

  32. Cardinal O'Connell, as reported: JTA Daily News Bulletin, 14 April 1929. ↩

  33. JTA1929, (18 Apr. 1929). ↩

  34. Louis Marshall, Jewish communal leader (a believer defending him): JTA, 18 April 1929 (news brief). ↩

  35. JTA1929, (28 Apr. 1929). ↩

  36. JTA1929. ↩

  37. Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, editorial: JTA Daily News Bulletin, 26 May 1929. ↩

  38. G. S. Viereck, Glimpses of the Great (1930), chapter "What Life Means to Einstein," pp. 355–376 of the scanned edition, p. 372. ↩

  39. Viereck, Glimpses of the Great, pp. 372–373. ↩

  40. Viereck, Glimpses of the Great, Glimpses of the Great (1930), pp. 372–373. The key refusal. Viereck's spelling: Atheist, Pantheist. Often quoted without "I do not know if I can define myself as a Pantheist." The verifier scores this LOW only because the running head "What Life Means to Einstein 373" falls mid-sentence in the scan. ↩

  41. Viereck, Glimpses of the Great, p. 372. ↩

  42. Viereck, Glimpses of the Great, p. 373. ↩

  43. Viereck, Glimpses of the Great, p. 373. ↩

  44. Viereck, Glimpses of the Great, p. 372. ↩

  45. Viereck, Glimpses of the Great, p. 373; Viereck, "What Life Means to Einstein," Saturday Evening Post, 26 Oct. 1929, pp. 17 ff. ↩

  46. Viereck, Glimpses of the Great, p. 370. ↩

  47. Viereck, Glimpses of the Great, p. 373; Viereck, "What Life Means to Einstein,". ↩

  48. Viereck, Glimpses of the Great, p. 370. ↩

  49. Albert Einstein, "What I Believe," Forum and Century 84:4 (Oct. 1930), starting p. 192 per the ProQuest header; Living Philosophies XIII. ↩

  50. Forum and Century 84:4 (Oct. 1930), scan p. 1 (article begins p. 192). ↩

  51. Forum and Century, Oct. 1930, scan p. 2. Often misquoted as "I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes" (that is the 1934 translation). ↩

  52. Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science," New York Times Magazine, 9 Nov. 1930, pp. 1–4. Page image at. ↩

  53. New York Times Magazine, 9 Nov. 1930, p. 1 (col. 3). ↩

  54. New York Times Magazine, 9 Nov. 1930, p. 1 (cols. 3–4). ↩

  55. Einstein, "Religion and Science,". ↩

  56. New York Times Magazine, 9 Nov. 1930, p. 1 (col. 4). ↩

  57. "Albert Einstein,", (Jammer p. 97); "Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein,". ↩

  58. "Albert Einstein,"; "Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein,", (Gilmore, Skeptic 5:2, 1997). ↩

  59. "Albert Einstein,", (Löwenstein 1968); "Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein,", (Clark 1971 p. 425). ↩

  60. "Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein,", (Calaprice 2010 p. 340). ↩

  61. "Albert Einstein,", (Jammer p. 121). ↩

  62. Eric Gutkind, Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt (Henry Schuman, 1952), pp. 129, 218; "Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein,". ↩

  63. Einstein to Eric Gutkind, 3 Jan. 1954, abridged English translation by Joan Stambaugh, The Guardian, 13 May 2008,, (Stambaugh translation). ↩

  64. "Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein,", (Dukas 1981 p. 43). ↩

  65. "Albert Einstein,". ↩

  66. "Albert Einstein's 'God letter' sells for $2.9m," BBC News, 4 Dec. 2018 (saved in research/notes/); "Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein,". ↩

  67. "Albert Einstein,", Misattributed and Disputed sections. Not verified. ↩

Sources cited in the notes: Jewish Telegraphic Agency Daily News Bulletin, 1929 items on Cardinal O'Connell, Louis Marshall, the Goldstein cable and the Osservatore Romano.; "Einstein Believes in 'Spinoza's God'," New York Times, 25 April 1929: headline and tags confirmed from a Wayback capture; the article body is paywalled and was not read.; "Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein," English Wikipedia, raw wikitext retrieved 2026-10-14 (research/notes/wp-religious-views.txt).; Anton Reiser (pseudonym of Rudolf Kayser, Einstein's son-in-law), Albert Einstein: A Biographical Portrait (Albert and Charles Boni, New York, 1930). Wikimedia Commons PDF "Albert Einstein, a biographical portrait - Anton Reiser, 1930.pdf"; text layer extracted to research/texts/reiser-1930.txt. PD (1930). An authorised portrait, so its inner details of the boy's religiosity carry the biographer's gloss.; "Albert Einstein," English Wikipedia, retrieved 2026-10-14 (research/notes/wp-einstein.txt).; Walter Isaacson, "Einstein & Faith," Time, 5 April 2007 (book excerpt), content.time.com. research/texts/time-2007-isaacson-einstein-and-faith.txt.; Albert Einstein, "Notes for an Autobiography," Saturday Review of Literature, 26 Nov. 1949, p. 9 (per Wikipedia citation); the same text is in Schilpp, Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (1949); "Albert Einstein," Wikiquote, retrieved 2026-10-14 (research/notes/wikiquote-einstein.txt): used only as a map; its Misattributed and Disputed sections drive the misquotation flags.; G. S. Viereck, Glimpses of the Great (1930), chapter "What Life Means to Einstein," pp. 355–376 of the scanned edition.; Viereck, "What Life Means to Einstein," Saturday Evening Post, 26 Oct. 1929, pp. 17 ff.; Albert Einstein, "What I Believe," Forum and Century 84:4 (Oct. 1930), starting p. 192 per the ProQuest header; Living Philosophies XIII.; Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science," New York Times Magazine, 9 Nov. 1930, pp. 1–4. Page image at.; Eric Gutkind, Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt (Henry Schuman, 1952); Einstein to Eric Gutkind, 3 Jan. 1954, abridged English translation by Joan Stambaugh, The Guardian, 13 May 2008,.; "Albert Einstein's 'God letter' sells for $2.9m," BBC News, 4 Dec. 2018 (saved in research/notes/).

In their own words

I am not an Atheist. I do not know if I can define myself as a Pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds.

Einstein to Viereck · Viereck, Glimpses of the Great (1930), pp. 372–373

Your question is the most difficult in the world. It is not a question I can answer simply with yes or no.

Einstein to Viereck · Viereck p. 372

The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how.

Einstein to Viereck · Viereck p. 373

I am fascinated by Spinoza's Pantheism. I admire even more his contributions to modern thought.

Einstein to Viereck · Viereck p. 373

As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene.

Einstein to Viereck · Viereck p. 373; ViereckSEP

No. Life, one life, is sufficient for me.

Einstein to Viereck · Viereck p. 370

I presume your question is inspired by my message in reply to an American friend, informing me that I had been attacked as an atheist by a distinguished ecclesiastic. My reply was not intended for publication.

Einstein to Viereck · Viereck p. 372

I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals Himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns Himself with fates and actions of human beings.

Einstein, cable to Rabbi Goldstein, 24 April 1929 · JTA Daily News Bulletin, 28 April 1929 (English as the JTA rendered it)

Ich glaube an Spinozas Gott der sich in gesetzlicher Harmonie des Seienden offenbart, nicht an Gott der Sich mit Schicksalen und Handlungen der Menschen abgibt.

Einstein, cable to Rabbi Goldstein · JTA Daily News Bulletin, 28 April 1929

To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms — this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong in the ranks of devoutly religious men.

Einstein, "What I Believe" · Forum and Century 84:4 (Oct. 1930), scan p. 1 (article begins p. 192)

I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own — a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism.

Einstein, "What I Believe" · Forum and Century, Oct. 1930, scan p. 2

I will call it the cosmic religious sense. This is hard to make clear to those who do not experience it, since it does not involve an anthropomorphic idea of God;

Einstein, "Religion and Science" · New York Times Magazine, 9 Nov. 1930, p. 1 (col. 3)

often they appeared to their contemporaries as atheists, but sometimes also as saints. Viewed from this angle, men like Democritus, Francis of Assisi and Spinoza are near to one another.

Einstein, "Religion and Science" · New York Times Magazine, 9 Nov. 1930, p. 1 (cols. 3–4)

A God who rewards and punishes is unthinkable to him, because man acts in accordance with an inner and outer necessity, and would, in the eyes of God, be as little responsible as an inanimate object is for the movements which it makes.

Einstein, "Religion and Science" · New York Times Magazine, 9 Nov. 1930, p. 1 (col. 4)

the only deeply religious people of our largely materialistic age are the earnest men of research.

Einstein, "Religion and Science," quoting "a contemporary" · New York Times Magazine, 9 Nov. 1930, p. 1 (col. 4)

I do not believe in a God who maliciously or arbitrarily interferes in the personal affairs of mankind. My religion consists of an humble admiration for the vast power which manifests itself in that small part of the universe which our poor, weak minds can grasp!

Einstein, as reported by M. K. Wisehart (American Magazine, June 1930) · Fillmore, The Twelve Powers of Man (1930), pp. 86–87

My concept of God is an emotional conviction of a superior intellect manifested in the material world.

Einstein, as reported by Reiser · Reiser, Albert Einstein: A Biographical Portrait (1930), p. 223

In every true searcher of Nature there is a kind of religious reverence; for he finds it impossible to imagine that he is the first to have thought out the exceedingly delicate threads that connect his perceptions.

Einstein, as reported by Moszkowski · Moszkowski, Einstein the Searcher (1921), ch. III

Albert longed for a religious life and for religious instruction. But he heard only ironic and unfriendly talk about dogmatic ritual.

Reiser, on the boy · Reiser p. 28

The faith of his childhood now began to waver, and his social sense to grow more keen.

Reiser, on the boy · Reiser p. 38

Despite his Jewish descent he showed no adherence to it.

Reiser, on the teenager · Reiser p. 41

The other side

behind the cloak of the Einstein theory of relativity and space-time, as vaguely enunciated by him, was the ghastly spectre of atheism.

Cardinal William Henry O'Connell, Archbishop of Boston, letter to the Boston Evening American · JTA Daily News Bulletin, 18 April 1929

false in its construction, plagiaristic in its main statement and atheistic in its tendencies.

Cardinal O'Connell, as reported · JTA Daily News Bulletin, 14 April 1929

This is authentic atheism even if camouflaged as cosmic pantheism.

Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, editorial · JTA Daily News Bulletin, 26 May 1929

A true and faithful child of God who ennobles religion

Louis Marshall, Jewish communal leader (a believer defending him) · JTA, 18 April 1929 (news brief)

Where accounts differ

PointOne accountAnotherHow the page handles it
Who said "authentic atheism, even if camouflaged as cosmic pantheism"The Osservatore Romano, 25 May 1929, praising O'Connell (JTA 26 May 1929)Cardinal O'Connell himself (Wikipedia, citing a 1944 Time obituary)Use A. In 1929 O'Connell said "ghastly spectre of atheism"; the pantheism phrase is the Vatican paper's.
Age at school entrySix (Reiser p. 29; Time 2007)Five (Wikipedia)Say "about six" or avoid.
Was the child a pantheist?Reiser (1930): at about six he "identified God with nature" and was "carried away by a Spinozistic pantheism"Einstein (1949): a deep religiosity that came from religious instruction and ended at twelve over Bible storiesTreat Reiser's label as the 1930 biographer's gloss; say Einstein described his own early religion as ordinary Biblical piety.
The age and trigger of the crackTwelve, popular science books made the Bible's stories impossible (Autobio)Reiser: faith "began to waver" after Büchner during Gymnasium years; Rabbi Perles's lessons still moved himUse Einstein's own date and say Reiser sets Büchner after it.
The 1929 interview textThe God and Spinoza answers are in Viereck's 1930 book (pp. 372–373)They are not in the Post article's OCR (51 KB; may be incomplete)Cite the book; check the Post pages by eye.
"Cosmic religious sense" or "feeling"NYT 1930: "sense"1934 Harris and Ideas and Opinions: "feeling"Quote one version and name it.
Date of "Science and Religion"19 May 1939 Princeton Theological Seminary (Panarchy)1941 symposium, Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion (Wikiquote, Wikipedia)Say "1939 address, printed 1941" until Jammer or the symposium is read.
The Gutkind translationStambaugh (Guardian 2008): "honourable, but still primitive legends ... pretty childish"Other renderings: "venerable ... rather primitive"; the Guardian's own translation has been questioned (Wikipedia)Quote only after David's clearance and a German check; do not build an argument on "childish".
Date of Löwenstein's remark"around 1941" (Wikiquote)Clark 1971 p. 425 (not seen)Say "in the 1940s" and name the source.
Date of the "Scientific Truth" answers1923, to the Japanese magazine Kaizo (Wikipedia)Printed in the 1934 collectionSay "in a collection of 1934" unless the 1923 date is confirmed.

List of illustrations

This page uses only public-domain and Creative Commons images; each is credited with its source and licence.

  1. Albert Einstein, studio portrait by Herman Mishkin, New York — Herman Mishkin, 1921 · Herman Mishkin, New York, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain · Public domain (Wikimedia Commons: Public domain)
  2. Albert Einstein at the age of three — Unknown photographer, 1882 · Unknown photographer, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain · Public domain (Wikimedia Commons: Public domain)
  3. Albert Einstein and his sister Maja as children (ETH-Bibliothek Portr 03143-A) — Unknown (ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv), 1885 (as dated by ETH-Bibliothek) · ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain · Public domain (Wikimedia Commons: Public domain; ETH-Bibliothek collection)
  4. Luitpold-Gymnasium, Munich (postcard dated 30 March 1898) — Unknown, 1898 · Stadtarchiv München, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain · Public domain (Wikimedia Commons: Public domain; Stadtarchiv München)
  5. Max Talmud (later Talmey), medical student who lent the boy science books, by E. Mulhern — E. Mulhern, circa 1890 · E. Mulhern, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain · Public domain (Wikimedia Commons: Public domain)
  6. Albert Einstein at the Bern patent office — Lucien Chavan (1868-1942), 1904 or 1905 · Lucien Chavan; Historical Museum of Bern, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain · Public domain (Wikimedia Commons: Public domain)
  7. Cardinal William Henry O'Connell, Archbishop of Boston — Bain News Service, 1913 · Bain News Service, publisher; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (George Grantham Bain Collection), via Wikimedia Commons, public domain · Public domain (Wikimedia Commons: Public domain; Library of Congress Bain collection ggbain.15093)
  8. Jewish Telegraphic Agency Daily News Bulletin, 28 April 1929, p. 3: 'Professor Einstein Declares His Faith in Spinoza's God' — Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 1929-04-28 · Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Daily News Bulletin, JTA archive (pdfs.jta.org) · Public domain (US newspaper bulletin published 1929; the JTA archive page states no licence)
  9. George Sylvester Viereck (G.S. Viereck) — Bain News Service, 1910 · Bain News Service, publisher; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (George Grantham Bain Collection), via Wikimedia Commons, public domain · Public domain (Wikimedia Commons: Public domain; Library of Congress Bain collection LCCN 2014698598)
  10. G. S. Viereck, Glimpses of the Great (London, 1930), p. 373, 'What Life Means to Einstein' — George Sylvester Viereck, 1930 · George Sylvester Viereck, Glimpses of the Great (Duckworth, Henrietta Street, London, 1930), Digital Library of India copy, Internet Archive (dli.ernet.13528) · Public domain (published 1930; the Internet Archive item states no rights, so the status rests on the publication date)
  11. Albert Einstein, 'What I Believe' (Living Philosophies XIII), Forum and Century, October 1930, first page — Albert Einstein (Forum and Century), 1930-10 · Forum and Century, October 1930, Internet Archive (what-i-believe-albert-einstein-1930) · Public Domain Mark 1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/), as stated on the Internet Archive item
  12. Albert Einstein, 'Religion and Science', The New York Times Magazine, 9 November 1930, p. 1 — Albert Einstein (The New York Times Magazine), 1930-11-09 · The New York Times Magazine, 9 November 1930, p. 1 (PDF hosted by The New York Times Learning Network) · Public domain (US newspaper magazine published 9 November 1930; the NYT-hosted PDF states no licence)
  13. Einstein's house at 112 Mercer Street, Princeton — Ekem, 2009-03-06 · Ekem, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons: CC BY-SA 3.0)
  14. Baruch Spinoza portrait HAB original — anonymous, 1665 · Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbuettel (via Wikimedia Commons) · Public domain (as stated on the Wikimedia Commons file page)

Sources

Tier 1 — the subject's own words (writings, letters, diaries, trial records)

  • [Forum1930] Albert Einstein, "What I Believe," Forum and Century 84:4 (Oct. 1930), starting p. 192 per the ProQuest header; Living Philosophies XIII. IA what-i-believe-albert-einstein-1930 (Public Domain Mark). Text in research/texts/what-i-believe-1930.txt. 1930 US publication, public domain.
  • [NYT1930] Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science," New York Times Magazine, 9 Nov. 1930, pp. 1–4. Page image at https://static01.nyt.com/images/blogs/learning/pdf/2013/19301109Einstein.pdf (saved in research/notes/). Quoted passages transcribed by the researcher by eye into research/texts/nyt-1930-religion-science-transcription.txt; second reader needed. The Times's own 1930 translation.
  • [Viereck] G. S. Viereck, Glimpses of the Great (1930), chapter "What Life Means to Einstein," pp. 355–376 of the scanned edition. IA dli.ernet.13528 (London printing, Henrietta Street, 1930). Text in research/texts/viereck-glimpses.txt. PD (1930). The interview text is Viereck's record of Einstein's spoken words.
  • [ViereckSEP] Viereck, "What Life Means to Einstein," Saturday Evening Post, 26 Oct. 1929, pp. 17 ff. IA WhatLifeMeansToEinstein_201712; text in research/texts/viereck-sep-1929.txt. The OCR contains the Bible and Talmud answer but no God or Spinoza passage (see Disputed points).
  • [JTA1929] Jewish Telegraphic Agency Daily News Bulletin, 1929 items on Cardinal O'Connell, Louis Marshall, the Goldstein cable and the Osservatore Romano. https://www.jta.org/archive/ (URLs in the text file). Texts in research/texts/jta-1929-cardinal.txt and research/texts/jta-1929-spinoza.txt; saved pages in research/notes/jta/. 1929 US publications, PD.
  • [Fillmore] Charles Fillmore, The Twelve Powers of Man (Unity School of Christianity, 1930), pp. 86–87, quoting M. K. Wisehart, American Magazine, June 1930. IA twelvepowersofma0000fill; text in research/texts/fillmore-twelve-powers.txt. PD (1930); Einstein's words at one remove.
  • [Moszkowski] Alexander Moszkowski, Einstein the Searcher, trans. Henry L. Brose (Dutton, 1921), Gutenberg #70678, chapter III "Valhalla" (no page numbers in the Gutenberg text). research/texts/moszkowski.txt. PD.
  • [Autobio] Albert Einstein, "Notes for an Autobiography," Saturday Review of Literature, 26 Nov. 1949, p. 9 (per Wikipedia citation); the same text is in Schilpp, Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (1949). IA EinsteinAutobiography (a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 upload; the scan is unpaginated). In copyright: read and paraphrased only. research/texts/autobio-notes-1949.txt.
  • [WAISI] Einstein, The World As I See It, trans. Alan Harris (John Lane, London, 1935 impression of the 1934 book). IA in.ernet.dli.2015.127962. Wikisource states the US copyright runs until 2030; read and paraphrased only. Pages cited are the printed pages as best read from the OCR. research/texts/worldasiseeit-dli.txt.
  • [Panarchy] Einstein, "Science and Religion," web transcription at https://www.panarchy.org/einstein/science.religion.1939.html, labelled an address at Princeton Theological Seminary, 19 May 1939. Not a scan; copyright status uncertain; read only. research/notes/panarchy-1939.html.
  • [Guardian] Einstein to Eric Gutkind, 3 Jan. 1954, abridged English translation by Joan Stambaugh, The Guardian, 13 May 2008, https://www.theguardian.com/science/2008/may/13/peopleinscience.religion (saved in research/notes/). In copyright (unpublished letter, first published 2008 at the latest); paraphrase only.
  • [Letters] Further letters (Raner 1945 and 1949, Gross 1947, Berkowitz 1950, Solovine 1951, Beatrice F. 1952, Büsching 1929, Wright 1936, Dispentiere 1954) known only through [Wikiquote], [WP-Views], and the books they cite (Jammer 1999, Calaprice 2000 and 2010, Dukas 1981, Gilmore 1997). None seen in a scan.

Tier 2 — scholarly biographies and encyclopedias

  • [Reiser] Anton Reiser (pseudonym of Rudolf Kayser, Einstein's son-in-law), Albert Einstein: A Biographical Portrait (Albert and Charles Boni, New York, 1930). Wikimedia Commons PDF "Albert Einstein, a biographical portrait - Anton Reiser, 1930.pdf"; text layer extracted to research/texts/reiser-1930.txt. PD (1930). An authorised portrait, so its inner details of the boy's religiosity carry the biographer's gloss.
  • [Gutkind] Eric Gutkind, Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt (Henry Schuman, 1952). IA chooselifethebib012800mbp; research/texts/gutkind-choose-life.txt. In copyright; read only.
  • [Heisenberg] Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Beyond (1971), chapter on science and religion, read in the excerpt at https://www.edge.org/conversation/werner_heisenberg-science-and-religion (research/notes/). In copyright; read only.
  • [Jammer] Max Jammer, Einstein and Religion (Princeton, 1999); [Calaprice] Alice Calaprice, The Ultimate Quotable Einstein (Princeton, 2010) and the 2000 Expanded edition; [Isaacson] Walter Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007); [Clark] Ronald Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times (1971); [Fölsing] Albrecht Fölsing, Albert Einstein (1997). None could be opened (IA borrow-only, 401; Google Books blocked). Cited only as they appear in [WP-Views], [WP-Einstein], [Wikiquote] and [Time2007]; Calaprice's chapter on dubious quotations was NOT consulted.

Tier 3 — popular biographies and journalism

  • [Time2007] Walter Isaacson, "Einstein & Faith," Time, 5 April 2007 (book excerpt), content.time.com. research/texts/time-2007-isaacson-einstein-and-faith.txt.
  • [BBC2018] "Albert Einstein's 'God letter' sells for $2.9m," BBC News, 4 Dec. 2018 (saved in research/notes/).
  • [NYT1929] "Einstein Believes in 'Spinoza's God'," New York Times, 25 April 1929: headline and tags confirmed from a Wayback capture; the article body is paywalled and was not read.

Tier 4 — Wikipedia and similar reference sites (citable; give the article and revision date; prefer a higher tier where one exists)

  • [WP-Views] "Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein," English Wikipedia, raw wikitext retrieved 2026-10-14 (research/notes/wp-religious-views.txt).
  • [WP-Einstein] "Albert Einstein," English Wikipedia, retrieved 2026-10-14 (research/notes/wp-einstein.txt).
  • [WP-OConnell] "William Henry O'Connell," English Wikipedia, retrieved 2026-10-14.
  • [Wikiquote] "Albert Einstein," Wikiquote, retrieved 2026-10-14 (research/notes/wikiquote-einstein.txt): used only as a map; its Misattributed and Disputed sections drive the misquotation flags.

Opposition sources — contemporary critics and religious responses

  • [JTA1929] (above) for Cardinal O'Connell, the Osservatore Romano and Louis Marshall.
  • [Gutkind] (above) for the believer's argument in 1952.