Heh, what's worse than an (allegedly) off-topic post is a post accusing another post of being off-topic.:-)
Anyway, you're right. He doesn't discount the possibility of a creator, but does repeatedly deny the existence of the "personal God" of modern-day religions:
"I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."
"Thus I came--despite the fact I was the son of entirely irreligious (Jewish) parents--to a deep religiosity, which, however, found an abrupt ending at the age of 12. Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true. The consequence was a positively fanatic [orgy of] freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is intentionally being deceived...Suspicion against every kind of authority grew out of this experience, a skeptical attitude... has never left me..."
perhaps the most interesting part about Mr. Einstein is that he was heavily anti-institutional
On the subject of anti-institutionalism, the man himself is clearly an outspoken atheist (although the media and the Church have in the past misconstrued his references to God as an indication of a personal faith):
"From the viewpoint of a Jesuit priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist.... 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 whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our being."
"The contemplation of this world beckoned as a liberation (...) The road to this paradise was not as comfortable and alluring as the road to the religious paradise; but it has shown itself reliable, and I have never regretted having chosen it"
"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death"
"Since our inner experiences consist of reproductions, and combinations of sensory impressions, the concept of a soul without a body seem to me to be empty and devoid of meaning"
Slashdot Mirror
Heh, what's worse than an (allegedly) off-topic post is a post accusing another post of being off-topic. :-)
Anyway, you're right. He doesn't discount the possibility of a creator, but does repeatedly deny the existence of the "personal God" of modern-day religions:
On the subject of anti-institutionalism, the man himself is clearly an outspoken atheist (although the media and the Church have in the past misconstrued his references to God as an indication of a personal faith):