Prot: Albert Einstein died a Christian!
Sin: No, he did not.
Prot: No he did not? What kind of answer is that? Yes he did!
It is so often used by theists as a means to say, "See, even the most die hard non-Christian eventually saw the light!" Fortunately, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence -- So it makes it very easy for us who are in a perpetual state of suspended judgement to debunk such claims with solid evidence.
"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism." [-Albert Einstein]
Let us not become confused -- Einstein is not claiming Buddhism as his faith and conviction -- merely pointing out that Buddhism is most open to scientific advancement than the other positive religions.
"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. 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." [-Albert Einstein, 1954, The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press]
An obvious denial of both theism and moreover, Christianity.
"Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the action of people. For this reason, a research scientist will hardly be inclined to believe that events could be influenced by a prayer, i.e. by a wish addressed to a Supernatural Being."
[-Albert Einstein, 1936, The Human Side. Responding to a child who wrote and asked if scientists pray.]
Ibid.
"A man's ethical behaviour should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; 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."
[-Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science", New York Times Magazine, 9 November 1930]
I'm not going so far as to agree with him on this subject -- but once again we see Einstein denouncing the necessity of religion.
"I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death; let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egoism, cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and with the awareness and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing world, together with the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the Reason that manifests itself in nature." [-Albert Einstein, The World as I See It]
Sound absolutely nothing like something a Christian would say.
"I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings."
[-Albert Einstein, responding to Rabbi Herbert Goldstein who had sent Einstein a cablegram bluntly demanding "Do you believe in God?" Quoted from Victor J. Stenger, Has Science Found God? 2001, chapter 3.]
Check the link for a quick overview of Spinoza, his idea of God, and his general philosophy.
"The idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I am unable to take seriously." [-Albert Einstein, Letter to Hoffman and Dukas, 1946]
Is there any more room for doubt in this matter?
