I agree with Einstein that evidence and reason without faith is lame, but faith without evidence and reason is blind and, I firmly believe, utterly worthless and will ultimately lead to folly.
I don't think we have any fundamental conflict here. But I think one needs to be careful about the use of that quote in isolation. It certainly does not mean that an atheist scientist cannot do good science (which I certainly do not think you are asserting).
What Einstein says about the role of religion is limited to saying that the conviction that the universe operates on the basis of rules that can be discovered through the use of rationality is not something that science can justify by itself, but comes from 'the sphere of religion', in that it is a conviction held by an individual that cannot be logically deduced from scientific facts. But it should be noted that you don't need to believe in any religion to have that conviction: it is one that practising scientists can acquire through the experience of over and over again finding that science works: if you study puzzling phenomena carefully enough and for long enough, there tends to be a way of making rational sense of how they come to be the way they are. Of course one can never tell what will happen with the next problem; but one does tend to end up feeling that if you can't find a rational pattern that is not because there isn't one, but because you haven't yet done enough science to find such a pattern.
See the detailed discussion here (from New Republic):
“Though religion may be that which determines the goal, it has, nevertheless, learned from science, in the broadest sense, what means will contribute to the attainment of the goals it has set up. But science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration toward truth and understanding. This source of feeling, however, springs from the sphere of religion. To this there also belongs the faith in the possibility that the regulations valid for the world of existence are rational, that is, comprehensible to reason. I cannot conceive of a genuine scientist without that profound faith. The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”
Note that the article cited also contains some cogent criticisms (with which I tend to agree) of Einstein's ideas on this and related topics.
Thanks so much for that post! I agree wholeheartedly with your saying that "we don't have any fundamental conflict here." However, as is usually the case with your posts, reading your reply here has further enlightened and improved my own understanding. For this I am immensely grateful to you!
I certainly agree that saying, “Science without profound curiosity won’t go anywhere, and religion without science is doubly crippled.” is a great improvement over Einstein's original quote!
Last edited by Gunnar on Mon Feb 09, 2026 4:51 am, edited 2 times in total.
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
Their bigotry against others who don't share their economic status, race, religion or ethnicity only underscores their own inherent immorality and irrationality. Jesus would be ashamed of them!
Yes, but he'd also forgive them, which makes their bigotry passable. . . according to them.
And that is precisely where they go wrong, don't you agree?
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
Yes, but he'd also forgive them, which makes their bigotry passable. . . according to them.
I'm not sure about the forgiving part. " When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory"... and this is what happens to the people who refuse to help the poor and needy, and the stranger:
Matthew 25
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
If I was a fervent ICE supporter who wanted to see poor people arriving illegally from a desperate life elsewhere thrown into jail and then deported, it might not be very comfortable standing there and hearing that said. Notice that the Son of Man does not say that none of this applies if the victims are lawbreakers: those in prison are explicitly included.
Agree and thank you for providing scriptural support.
LIGHT HAS A NAME
We only get stronger when we are lifting something that is heavier than what we are used to. ~ KF
And that is precisely where they go wrong, don't you agree?
What? Can you clarify?
If they believe God will forgive them for their bigotry, that weakens the disincentive to try to profit from it as long as they can get away with it.
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
If they believe God will forgive them for their bigotry, that weakens the disincentive to try to profit from it as long as they can get away with it.
See if I have got this right. They believe that they can trick God into forgiving them for sinning without heartfelt remorse?
Do you think that they know what they're doing is wrong in the here and now? And they're doing it anyway thinking they'll just ask God to forgive this particular sin? Like God is their get out of hell free card?
LIGHT HAS A NAME
We only get stronger when we are lifting something that is heavier than what we are used to. ~ KF
If they believe God will forgive them for their bigotry, that weakens the disincentive to try to profit from it as long as they can get away with it.
See if I have got this right. They believe that they can trick God into forgiving them for sinning without heartfelt remorse?
Do you think that they know what they're doing is wrong in the here and now? And they're doing it anyway thinking they'll just ask God to forgive this particular sin? Like God is their get out of hell free card?
Exactly!
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
“That bad bunny halftime show was woke and all things immoral and bad”
…while a couple legally got married during the show promoting to the largest possible audience the most conservative value of all.
Meanwhile Kid Rock opens his TPUSA halftime show with a song about strippers, hookers, crackheads, gangsters and porn. “ Young ladies, young ladies, I like ’'em underage, see some say that’s statutory (but I say that’s mandatory).”
Guess which show Bible Belt Christians supported? Guess which show their golden calf complained about? Something is seriously wrong with the Bible Belt right now.
See if I have got this right. They believe that they can trick God into forgiving them for sinning without heartfelt remorse?
Do you think that they know what they're doing is wrong in the here and now? And they're doing it anyway thinking they'll just ask God to forgive this particular sin? Like God is their get out of hell free card?
The Jersey Girl translation of the New Testament
For I was hungered, and ye "taxed other people and stole meat for me": I was thirsty, and ye "voted to have the government seize a coca cola factory from the owners": I was a stranger, and ye "confiscated a public children's gymnasium to house Kevin Graham's cheap tax free illegal immigrant work force." It doesn't matter that you yourself voluntarily gave absolutely nothing of your own bank account nor the fact that you haven't done a lick of work for the past 10 years. It's enough that you voted to take from working people and redistribute as you saw fit. Enter thou into the kingdom of Bernie Sanders and Josef Stalin.
Good luck trying to get Bernie to do any actual work.
And when the Confederates saw Jackson standing fearless like a stonewall, the army of Northern Virginia took courage and drove the federal army off their land.
