“The God Letter” is expected to sell for at least $1 million dollars.
A letter penned by Albert Einstein the year before his death in 1955 is expected to fetch a minimum of a million dollars during its pending auction.[/tweetit] Although Einstein often referenced God, he made it abundantly clear to Eric Gutkind, a philosopher, that he thought religion was nonsense. An excerpt from the letter reads:
“The word God is for me nothing but the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of venerable but still rather primitive legends."
He continues and writes that no interpretation of the Bible could lead him to think of God in a greater capacity.
Einstein’s Anti-Religion Letter Goes to Auction with an Expected $1 Million Price Tag[/tweetthis]
The letter did tiptoe around the concept of Einstein’s Jewish identity. He was proud to count himself among the Jewish people, but he never saw anything in them that ever suggested the fact that they were the people chosen by God. He wrote: “…they are in fact no better than other human groups, even if they are protected from the worst excesses by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot perceive anything 'chosen' about them.”
The letter is going to be available for view by the public starting at the end of November 2018 before it is auctioned on December 4, 2018. Presently, experts think the letter is going to fetch between $1 and $1.5 million at the auction. This is a vast increase in the $404,000 price that it was bought for in 2008. Since then, the letter has become an interesting artifact of the conversation between religion and science. In this letter, it is clear that Einstein drew a sharp line between religion and science.
However, that does not mean Einstein does not have any respect for religion. His feelings were that the religions of the world did have a valuable role to play. Religions and their leaders have the chance to guide people through what is right and wrong. According to Einstein, and he said there could be some common ground between him and Gutkind.
All in all, the letter is an important scientific and religious artifact that will be an interesting addition on the auction block in the months to come. Visitors can see the letter until the night before it is going to be auctioned.