Did Albert Einstein believe in God? Many religious theists cite Einstein as an example of a smart scientist who was also a religious theist like them. This supposedly rebuts the idea that science conflicts with religion or that science is atheistic. However, Albert Einstein consistently and unambiguously denied believing in personal gods who answered prayers or involved themselves in human affairs - exactly the sort of god common to religious theists claiming that Einstein was one of them.

 

Read Article: Albert Einstein Quotes on a Personal God: Einstein Denied Personal Gods, Prayer

The fact that we see differences in rates of belief in god across many nations suggests that the difference must be at least partially due to either some sort of inherent difference between men and women or something in religion itself (or both). What, though, could the differences be that would cause this? What would it be in religion that would cause this?

Share Your Ideas: Why Do More Women than Men Believe in God?

It's important to differentiate between beliefs and reasoning. The problem isn't that people mistakenly assume that they are the same, but rather that people can assume that having "good" or "right" beliefs as ends in themselves, regardless of the reasoning process that produce them. I won't dismiss the value of having good rather than harmful beliefs, but relying on unsound reasoning processes doesn't leave much room for improvement and learning.

Read Article: Beliefs & Reasoning - Differentiating Beliefs from Reasoning

Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old dentist, was 17 weeks pregnant when she went to the University Hospital Galway for back pain. The doctors found that she was in fact miscarrying - slowly, but badly enough that there was no chance her fetus would survive. They would not, however, perform an abortion to save her life. Because of their Catholic convictions, she died a slow and painful death.

I've seen conflicting information on whether or not an abortion in a case like this would be legal, but apparently an abortion to save a woman's life is permitted under the Irish constitution. If that's the case, then the hospital refused to save this woman's life solely out of a preference for following personal, private religious rules. In such a situation, all those involves should, in my opinion, be charged with murder or with being an accessory to murder.

It's been admitted that the statement "this is a Catholic country" was given directly to the woman to justify not performing an abortion and letting her die slowly. I guess that excuse can cover a lot of things, like not protecting kids from rape and not ensuring full equality for the female half of the human race. Read More...